Thursday, November 19, 2009

We averted a hospital trip last night

Yesterday I updated everyone that Emily's ANC had fallen to Neutropenic levels and that she probably had a new virus. At 11pm when Tracy went in to give Emily her Chemo she noticed she was warm. We took her temp and she was 99.5. That is technically not a fever, you have to hit 100.3 to be considered to have an official fever. But we know Emily very well and we know that her temp usually runs around 97.7, so to us when we have seen fevers in the 99 range it has meant she was on her way up to above 100.3 levels. So we were pretty sure that within an hour or two we would be heading to the ER for blood and urine cultures, and since she was neutropenic it would also mean she would be hospitalized.

To my amazement an hour later, she was cool again. I think she fought off a virus and avoided the hospital for the first time in treatment. This means she is strong. This one isn't H1N1 since it was resistant to the Tamiflu she was on up to yesterday, it's most likely Rhinovirus aka the common cold.

I called the Oncology Fellow last night at 11 to warn him we would probably be seeing him later in the night. In that call he told me there was a study done recently that kids age 1-5 have a active virus in them 150 days out of the year. This really explains why all parents get sick when their children go to preschool. But I was surprised that is was 150 days a year .....Wow.

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