"Mary, Mary, quite contrary.....

...how does your gut flora grow?

No silver bells or cockle shells, but Dad's got quite the bacterial garden growing. The cultures the infectious disease folks are growing showed a second type of bacterial infection -- enterococcus. The specific type hasn't been confirmed yet. It's still flourishing in the petri dish. Until that is confirmed, we don't know the exact antibiotic that will kill it.

We need your prayers. Dad's immune system hasn't even hit its lowest since finishing up 3 rounds of chemo, and he's trying to fight not only one, but TWO blood infections. It's like "double sepsis." Not sure if that's a real term, but it's the best way I can describe the current situation.  He's fighting it, though. The fever comes and goes. He sleeps a LOT (or tries to....hospitals aren't known for good night's rest). He's eating ok. His vitals are stable now. All of those are positive, and we're going with that. Thanks, prayer warriors! Keep them coming and going. For those of you praying to clear Dad of the klebsiella sepsis, pray doubly dose to rid him of the enterococcus too. Pray that the species of enterococcus IS of the variety that can be annihilated with an antibiotic. There is a slight chance of the alternative. Think positive, be positive, and pray!

Love to all......Jen

I sit here in Meritus Medical Center with my parents. Dad was brought to the ER last night for major fatigue, pretty intense chills, fever, and just plain, old overall ickyness. This started Wednesday night, but Dad is such a "good" patient, not wanting to bother the doctors, that he waited to see if his symptoms would just go away the next day.....because fevers, chills, and fatigue just do that???? Not to mention that he was told that if he experienced even ONE of these symptoms that he was to go directly to the hospital.

Let me catch you up a bit.....

Dad's been receiving chemo every Tuesday over the last 3 weeks. Just this past Tuesday was his last treatment of this first cycle. He starts up again Dec. 3rd. (His CA 19-9 marker had increased through October, so regardless of what that CT scan had shown after Cipro last month, the blood work showed that the cancer was on the move again.)

Dad's done very well tolerating this most recent cycle, as he has all the other ones too.  He's amazingly tough. Typically, patients receiving this regiment cannot do three weeks in a row b/c their white blood cell count drops to dangerously low levels. He was able to get all three treatments in! He was warned that after the 3rd treatment, though, he would definitely have depleted white blood cells. It was extremely important that he take every precaution necessary to avoid getting sick. He was told his body would have no way to fight off anything. Mom's been the best care-taker, making sure he has his daily 3 square meals, and nightly cocktails of prune juice, Smooth Move tea, and Ensure milkshake. Quite the bartender she's become.

Haven't my parents have become the most entertaining old people? Hard to believe there was a day when they placed in a dance contest at Studebaker's! At that time, the bartender was not preparing prune juice:)

Turns out, the fever, chills, and overall YUCK are another bacterial infection. (Last October his gall bladder kicked up and caused sepsis.) Dad is septic....again. The labs showed klebsiella pneumoniae in his blood. The timing of the symptoms and the type of bacteria that it is led infectious disease to believe that his medi-port was infected during Tuesday's chemo infusion. Um....yeeeaaahh. True to Scarlett O'Hara, "I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow." Love me some GWTW...
The nurses working with him on Tuesday were not regular faces. One was "filling in" and the other was shadowing, and I let my guard down not stalking their every move.

Fluids and IV antibiotics have been the regiment today, and it is helping, and doing so quickly. As of this moment, Dad reports feeling much better than he did when he came in last night, while still not admitting that he really needed to come to the hospital. It seems his temp is staying normal without the help of Tylenol or Motrin. He's been able to eat and sleep. All "output" is normal and functioning.  Your prayers are working; he's doing pretty well considering. Not sure of a discharge day yet. Stay tuned.

Thanks, prayer warriors! Much love to all......Jen