104

Seriously. I knew after I finished my blogging from last night and went to kiss her goodnight before I laid down that she felt warm. I checked her and she was just over 99, so I asked the CA to check her more often because although 99 isn't much, it's a good 2-3 degrees warmer for her. She agreed to check her again in 2 hours, so I laid down to try to sleep in the meantime. Of course as I laid there my mind started wandering and I had a flashback to her first fever here when she spiked in less than an hour. I began to panic that if they don't check her again for 2 hours she might spike long before that and be severely sick by the time they come back. So you know me, I'm tracking down the CA again to ask her to check her in an hour, so that hopefully I can fall asleep knowing someone will be checking on her. Once I get back in the room though, she's already up to 101.2 ... almost a fever and definitely a fever for her since she runs so low.

I asked the nurse if we could go ahead and get her some Tylenol, but of course she had to page the resident and get permission since she hadn't 'officially' spiked yet. I knew she was feeling awful. She was laying there awake, but limp. Her skin was clammy, hot on the forehead and cool near her toes. While waiting for the resident to call back the CA was back in (it had been an hour) and within a matter of minutes, she had risen to 40.0 C, which is 104 degrees! The CA immediately turned around and left the room to tell the nurse. By this time I was really nervous because I knew her ANC was zero and she had no way of fighting the fever. I was afraid she could be going septic. The nurses station is right outside our door, so I went to check on her Tylenol. Wouldn't you know Miss Chelsea didn't have an order for Tylenol in the computer! So once again she pages the resident and we have to wait for her to call back, then put the orders in the computer before our nurse can get her Tylenol! I was panicking because she rose to 104 so quickly I didn't want her to get any higher. I didn't care about the darned orders, I just wanted them to get some Tylenol in her little body! While I waited, I crawled in bed with Chelsea with a cool wash rag and held it on her head to try and prevent her fever from rising. She was only wearing a short sleeved onesie. She liked the washrag and she was so sweet still responding to my questions and giving me kisses. It only took another 15 minutes for the nurse to get everything ready and get in there, but it was a long 15 minutes for me.

After administering Tylenol and taking blood cultures from both lines (to check for a line infection) she started Chelsea on antibiotics. Now we just wait. If the cultures grow nothing in 48 hours they will take her off the antibiotics, if they do show an infection, they will have to test the sensitivity once again to figure out which antibiotic will treat the infection the best. So far she's fine. She never spiked again, in fact her temp is back down to normal. She's playing in the room like she was never sick. It makes me think it could be an infection and the antibiotics are helping. She's already had two doses of two different antibiotics; oxycillin and ...hmmm can't remember the other. For now she has to stay in her room, until she's fever free for 24 hours. Now that I look back, I can see that she wasn't feeling well yesterday. We really struggled to get her to drink her fluids yesterday, she even snubbed her nose at a chocolate milk shake. She also had two blowout diapers. Right now she's acting like she's struggling to go again, so I wonder if she's got something going on with her bowels. Her ANC was still ZERO today. Her platelets went up again and that's a good sign. Until we get the fever figured out we're stuck here regardless of her ANC.

Wishing you a happy day from room 6...we'll be happy to be out roaming the halls again tomorrow!