Nurses Kerry and Kim

Week 2 is the hard week.  Jeff’s white blood cells are down to 0.4 and he has had a fever for a couple of days.  He is on a broad-spectrum antibiotic which has wiped out the “good flora,” the good bacteria from his colon and part of his bowel, causing some problems which are being watched by an infectious disease specialist and a gastroenterologist.  He has a blood infection which will probably be taken care of by the antibiotic.  He was tested for “C diff” so we had to wear lovely blue plastic gowns today until his test results came back negative and it was no longer necessary to take that precaution.  All of this is expected if you work in oncology and a little disconcerting, if you don’t.

Jeff was given platelets yesterday morning and will probably get more tomorrow.  He was really uncomfortable yesterday and not up to company.  Today he felt better – thanks, in part, to anti-nausea meds - until the evening when his fever spiked again.  He had some moments of humor but he is pretty weak and not able to eat much.  Dr. Kennedy gave him a reprieve on the PICC line since he wasn’t feeling well.  They will likely put in a new one tomorrow.  In the meantime, his IV needed to be replaced since it was four days old. 

Chris, Jeff’s day-shift nurse, got busy and asked Donna (Nick thinks she is “not unattractive;” too bad she is married to a detective and they have three kids) to put in Jeff’s new IV.  I asked Chris whether Donna is the resident expert, the one who can always find the vein.  Chris said that, yes, Donna is the best at IVs.  I thanked Chris for getting the good “sticker” to do the job.  Donna is pleasant, gentle, compassionate (and not unattractive).  I thanked her for all of that (except that last part).  She said she always prays when she does IVs and prayer seems to serve her - and her patients - very well.  She told us that her church prays for Jeff every Sunday.  I told her that our church prays for her!

One night, the night shift nurse on duty was named Kerry and the nurse’s aide was Kim.  I took a picture of the dry-erase board that showed the names of the nurses and sent it to Kerry, Kim and Keith.  Kim texted back, “If Dr. Keith shows up, let me know.”

We expect a few more tough days.  If you can, call before you come to make sure Jeff is up to company. 

Prayer requests:

Infection-fighting and infection-preventing prayers, please.  And prayers for the kind folks who work the oncology floor:  medical staff including student nurses, cleaning and maintenance staff, transport services, food services.  Also, prayers for good results on the bone marrow biopsy scheduled for later this week.