March 16, 2000 -- Day 7
I didn't get a chance to update you yesterday, so I'll fill you in today. Yesterday was pretty uneventful. Dave was a little tired during the day, but nothing too serious. Doctors are still pleased with his progress.
About 7:30 last night he got a fever. Same type of thing he got a few nights ago. His temperature went up to about 100, and he got the rigors again. Only once this time. Again, they gave him Demerol and he was fine, if rather out of it for a while. The nurse explained to me that rigors are the body's way of trying to warm up. Basically, it's uncontrollable shivering -- Dave will get chilled, then start shivering. It's nothing that will hurt him.
Later during the night his fever went up to about 101, but he didn't rigor, so they gave him Tylenol and he went to sleep. He seems to only get a fever when they're giving him the IV nutrition (called TPN, for total parenteral nutrition), but when I talked to the doctor today, he said he doesn't think the fevers are necessarily related to the TPN.
The doctors started him on more antibiotics last night. They feel it's better to start them now than to keep hypothesizing about what could be causing the fevers. He said he and the other doctors have run through all sorts of hypotheses, but don't know what the cause is. He said that often they never find the cause -- they give the antibiotics to keep things under control.
The doctors are not concerned. The one I spoke with this morning (he's in charge of this unit), said he'd be concerned if Dave didn't get a fever.
Dave is in good hands. He's feeling so-so today. He's tired, feeling out of it, and more than a little cranky. While it may not be very reassuring to us, it is all very common.
I'll keep you posted.
Later
Just wanted to let you know how Dave is doing.
He was pretty tired after last night's adventures. He mostly just laid around, dozing off and on. About 3:00 he started getting chilled and having slight rigors. They didn't last, and he didn't have a fever, so the nurse held off on the Demerol. This happened a few more times, then around 4:15 or so he started shaking a little more, so she hooked up the Demerol. After that he was okay. Still no fever. He was just out of it and sleeping.
I left for dinner around 6:00, and when I got back at 8:30 he was awake and sitting up in bed with his glasses on. I always figure if he has his glasses on he must be feeling okay. He said he ate dinner and was better. The doctors won't give him the IV nutrition tonight and we'll see how he does. Hopefully, his counts will start coming up pretty soon and this will stop happening.
So that 's the latest. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Talk to you soon.
Allison