“Progress is rarely a straight line. There are always bumps in the road, but you can make the choice to keep looking ahead. – Kara Groucher”
The day before yesterday, Dave started to have a dry hacking cough. Then yesterday it became worse, and last night almost unbearable. After eliminating some important things, we decided it might be the new antibiotic drip they had him on every eight hours. It is the “go-to” antibiotic when your WBC drops to those ridiculous low levels after chemo. Every time he got it, his coughing increased, getting worse each time. To the point, he could hardly speak. I admit I started to get a bit worried around 2 AM! Every time the next bag would arrive his coughing had dramatically subsided. I asked the nurse to relay what we had to the floor doctor (who wasn’t actually on the floor). I said, “Tell them his crazy caregiver insisted!” We didn’t get an answer, but he did acknowledge the message and was looking into it. It’s not a common side effect, but it is listed. It also mentioned that it could spike a fever, which Dave also had. He didn’t meet the threshold to change course, but it spiked to 100.
Anyway, when I saw the same antibiotic on the nurse’s station when I was headed downstairs to find some coffee, I left her a note. Basically, “please hold off on this antibiotic. We think it is the reason for Dave’s cough. We want a doctor’s consult.” When I got back up about 5 min later, a great doc was there talking with Dave about it. She said she would call our doctor to discuss. They changed his antibiotic. They also did another chest X-ray, which by the way, they have the most marvelous machine ever for that! Come right into his room, and no matter if he’s lying in bed or sitting in the recliner, they can capture a quick X-ray! They did one at the outset for a baseline. I love how they do all that pre-treatment baseline stuff! They also did some blood cultures and another Covid test.
The good news is his WBC is on the rise, going from 0.4 to 0.8 from yesterday to today. (For those who don’t know, 2.0 gets you barely to the point where you can fight off an infection with a ton of supportive measures!) It always worries me when he starts to have difficulty moving his body. And with the walker and all that, it seems even worse to me. So today, he is moving better and more engaged.
So while we thought we were out of the woods, so to speak. Clearly, the week protocol is a good one. Little things can crop up for patients. We are all so different in how we react to certain things. You have to be vigilant and diligent in sleuthing out the causes. Is it something to worry about? You start out with a YES, in this case until you can prove otherwise. Usually, I do the exact opposite. So it is challenging for me to switch gears.
Another bit of good news this morning. I texted the Stanford patient and let her know how Dave was fairing. She texted me back the best update on her own journey.
“I had my three-month check-up a week ago. No signs of Cancer. I went camping at the Ocean and hiked around. I feel so good. I’m ready to tackle the world.”
And I’ll leave it at that today! (I’m back at the apartment doing some PJ laundry for Dave. Two more days!)
