Hi everyone,
Hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of the fall season. Unfortunately, we are not. Cody was admitted last Monday with a fever. It was a line infection in his temporary line. Let me explain what that is. He has a temporary IV line inserted in his chest with a tube running to a central artery near his heart. It has 3 lumens or lines hanging from it. This is where he gets all of his IV's here at the hospital and I do it at home. He does not have to be poked every time to do blood cultures and to do meds. He is due on Nov. 9th for a more permanent one that is more secure. So when he gets a fever, the first thing they do is take blood from all three lumens or lines to see if they are infected with bacteria. Sometimes, depending on the bacteria, they can treat with through the line with antibiotics or sometimes they have to pull the line to clear up the infection if the cultures are positive. (Did I lose you yet?) We got here late last Monday and tried to treat the infection. It presented itself as one that could be treated and the line left in. But on Saturday he got a positive culture back so the line had to be pulled. He then was given an IV in his arm for his meds. Not fun. On Monday, yesterday, he got the new line placed. The doctors heard some wheezing in his chest and are treating that but wanted to give him 24 hours before he could be released. So today, Tuesday we were discharging when the doctor came in to tell us that one of the new lines tested positive. He is being treated with several antibiotics and we could go home but we would have to be under careful watch. They do not usually send patients home with positive cultures. There are a few problems, one being that the infection could be around his heart because of the line placement, but an echocardiogram confirmed that to be negative at this time. The other problem is that we have to find out where the infection is if it is not the line. So they poked him again so they could check blood not using the lines to see if it is in his blood which means we will have to find out where the infection is. Complicated I know and scary. So while we were discussing leaving and with me doing antibiotics at home which is now problem, I get upset. That made the doctor keep us here. I was nervous to take him home with a positive culture. But I am the bad person now, according to Cody. It is ok, he needs to take his anger out on someone.
The good thing is that we are asked by the NY Islanders, (thanks from a little help from our friends, the Feldman's -thanks Sabrina!!!) to do the ceremonial puck for tomorrow's Islanders vs Rangers game. We have been talking about this since Friday. This is Islanders Fight Cancer month and they are 'hosting' us at tomorrow's game. We are going either way, we will get a pass to leave here if we are inpatient or we are being discharged tomorrow morning. We are VERY excited. That part will not be on TV but we will have lots of photos.
So back to the medical part. Let's hope for a negative culture. If not, we will have to find the cause of the infection which will involve lots of tests and the line will have to be pulled and we will be here for awhile. Thank goodness, there is no fever. I will keep you posted on that issue.
I did get a call from Casey yesterday. It was delayed and a bad connection but he sounds good and it was great to hear his voice. Unfortunately Cody did not get to talk to him. He called when I was home to take care of a leaky fishtank.
So with that, I will say goodnight. Thanks for listening and keeping in touch with us. Thanks again to SH for all that they did Friday night. We love you all.
Mary
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