The night I blogged last, I developed a fever in the 101 range. The next day, I called the doctor, and he said he wanted me to go to Stanford a day early for tests...
(Dan's hand hurts from the IV in it, so he passed the 'torch' to his wife)
The doctor basically laid out 3 options:
1. A CT shows a fluid collection or abscess and he would be admitted for that to be drained
2. A CT is clean, but the WBC count is high and he would be admitted for IV antibiotics
3. The CT is clean and the WBC count is in the normal range, so the culprit is the PICC. Pull
the PICC, send him home on antibiotics.
Since 2 of the 3 options resulted in Dan being hospitalized again, we decided to drive up north a day early, go to the Stanford ER and go from there. That way we could get the hospitalization started with earlier and hopefully ended earlier.
Jamie was wonderful and drove Dan and I from LA to Stanford last night. Dan slept in the front seat and I wrote a Bible paper in the backseat. I slept some, too, which proved a good thing as nights aren't always full of sleeping for us.
We arrived at the ER around 10am, right before the Sunday rush. McGreeky arrived fairly shortly after I got through the stringent security process (worse than the airport) to gain entrance into the ER. Because Dan was tachycardic (high heart rate), the doc said Dan would most certainly need to be hospitalized. All the labs got drawn, Dan started drinking the contrast, and we waited for his turn in the CT. By 2pm, Dan was back from CT and we had to just wait for results.
Amazingly, Dan got a phone call from McGreeky saying that the CT was "dry as a bone"--no fluid collection! So, that meant the PICC would be pulled, Dan would need to eat real food for nutrition and one drain will get pulled tomorrow. Unfortunately, the high WBC count and heart rate meant Dan would be admitted for IV antibiotics. McGreeky said Dan would probably be in the hospital for 48 hours. Only the Lord knows if he will stick by that time estimate. He might be a good surgeon, but he's a terrible estimator!
Dan got transferred to a new unit in the very old part of the hospital. It was a teeny semi-private room, but we figured we could make it work. Though I mentioned to a nurse that Dan has a really hard time at night and would be so much more comfortable with me in the room. I was merely hoping to be allowed to sit in a chair by his bed all night, instead she moved Dan to a recently vacated private room. Awesome!
So, here we sit watching the end of the Olympics in our little room. Dan looks a lot better after getting IV fluids, 3 doses of heavy duty antibiotics and being able to eat. He no longer has a PICC, so we just have to hope the eating can pick up soon and be successful. His fever was much lower this afternoon, but we don't know about now. Hopefully, we can both get some sleep tonight.
The plan for tomorrow is to pull out one drain completely, put the wound vac back on and keep pumping the meds. As long as things hold tight, hopefully Dan can get out of here very shortly after the 48 hour mark!
I will sleep here tonight and then fly back to LA tomorrow evening. My Tuesday classes and clinicals were just too crucial to miss this time. Then, depending on when Dan gets released, I will probably drive up on Wednesday after clinicals to help Dan celebrate his birthday. We would really love to celebrate by driving back to LA together!
Thank you for the prayers and support. Keep it up troops!
Prayer Requests:
* Resolution of the fever
* Continued healing of the wound
* Dan's ability to eat...and eat well without losing too much more weight
* Discharge in 48 hours!
* Dan being able to go home for his birthday on Wednesday
* No more complications
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