There is good reason it's been a few days since I've been on here. I'm sure some have heard and others are hearing rumors, but yes I am back in the hospital. I started having low grade fevers every now and then since I left the U of U hospital. Over last weekend they went up to 101, which they always tell you to call if it gets that high. One of my chest tube sites looks like it could be infected and also looks like it doesn't want to close. So, I went to my family practice Dr and had him take a culture of the site. He put me on a general antibiotic until we figured out what bacteria was growing. I called him on Wednesday morning to see if he'd gotten results back yet. I had woken up that morning with a fever of 102.5. He called me back and told me that there was a very resilient bug in there that would need strong antibiotics, but he's not sure because it could have just been on the skin and wasn't infecting the area. He told me to go to the E.R. and be admitted, but would rather have me see my team of cancer doctors up at Huntsman. Luckily I already had an appointment the same day.
I met with Dr. Akerley and told him about the fevers and what Dr. Christensen had found. He looked at the chest tube site and thought it actually didn't look infected. It wasn't red or having pus drain out from it. Based off of my fevers alone though, he decided to admit me anyway to figure out at very least what was causing the fevers. Soon after I was admitted we started doing many tests. We did blood cultures, urine tests, x rays, and then it was bed time. Thursday we did CAT scans and an MRI to take a close look at all of the hardware in my back from the surgery and make sure it wasn't infected, which can be very very scary. The scans were also to see if there were any spots of infection basically anywhere else. The only thing they've found really is some fluid in my right lung (the same one that collapsed and has a hole), so they want to have Interventional Radiology get in there with a needle, using ultrasound, and draw the fluid out and test it. If that doesn't come back infected, then I'm not sure what they'll do next. We just keep doing test after test and playing the waiting game.
They are having an Easter Egg Hunt up here at the hospital this morning and Justin is bringing up the kids so I can watch them. We are asking if I can be released from the hospital for at least tomorrow so I can be home for Easter. It all depends on if they find an infection. It also depends on what kind of infection they find and how scary it is and how long it will take to treat it. We are hoping we can treat it at home with an IV still in.
So, that's what's been going on. The best news we got this morning is that there doesn't appear to be any infection near or on the hardware in my back! Yay! I was so super worried about that.
In my last post I talked about going to see Dr. Nirula about the hole in my lung. I ended up canceling that because I was admitted the same day. We now also know there is fluid in my lung. I have been on oxygen basically since I have been up here, so I wonder if they both have something to do with it.
Also I had mentioned that my legs, mostly the left had been hurting from overdoing it trying to squat to pick up stuff around the house. I was also partly worried that I might have blood clots. So, we had my legs checked while I've been here and they are blood clot free.
If I think of anything else, I'll add it. My doctors are standing outside my door discussing me right now and will be coming in shortly. I may add another post if they have anything interesting to say.