Tuesday +6 (AM)

Jackie ran fever all night last night. She also had uncontrollable shakes a good part of the night. Her fever broke about 6:00 AM and she is feeling good this morning. She actually ordered a big breakfast and seems hungry. They plan on giving her Demerol if her shakes return. If I'm not mistaken this will make her very sleepy. She is getting constant IV fluids and nearly constant antibiotics. She has gone back to Vancomycin with a couple other exotics thrown in for good measure. Her cultures are still normal. The fever is likely neutropenic. The docs and nurses feel this is "par for the course" and don't seem to concerned.

Her counts continue to drop. Her RBC count is 9.9. At 8 they begin red blood cell transfusions - so probably by tomorrow. Her WBC count is .2 and by tomorrow will likely be .1 (which is the same as a zero). Her platelets are 23. She is already receiving platelet transfusions. By tomorrow she will probably be officially "crashed". Her counts will likely be about as low as they will go. They will remain at these levels for at least another week to 10 days.

I'll update again later today.

Bruce