Tuesday, March 1st: Day +12

Tuesday, March 1st: Day +12


Chase has had fevers consistently for over a week now.  He's seen doctors from probably just about every applicable department concerning his lips, all of which haven't yielded any results other than he has an infection in one of his IV lumens.  That turned out to be a staff infection, so he's now on Vancomycin.  He's Vanc sensitive. Lovely.  That means he gets Benadryl right before they give him that because he tends to break out in a red rash if they don't.

He has also received more platelets.  Sometimes I don't even realize he has received them until the following morning.  They draw his labs at midnight to see what his counts are doing.  If they find his platelets or hemoglobin is below or very close to the transfusion threshold, they'll give him blood products in the middle of the night.  He typically needs more platelets than anything.  By the way, that threshold has been raised from 20 to 50, which means he'll receive platelets more often.  The normal transfusion number for platelets is 10 if memory serves.

The next step in attempting to discover the source of his fever is a CT scan.  He's had one of these before with the contrast dye.  This is the only way they can see if he has a fungal infection since they won't grow from a blood culture.

Dawn, his nurse, didn't want him to take his mask off for the scan, but they had to get his sinus area.  The scan this time was a lot more intensive than I recalled his first one being.  It spoke to him, telling him to hold his breath and when to let it out.  Given that he can't breathe very well in the first place, I was worried about him, but he got through it okay.  I will be very interested in learning the results, which most likely won't be available until tomorrow.

The rest of the day for Chase was largely uneventful.  He slept quite a bit, which is what he spends the majority of his day doing right now.  I can't blame him for that either.  Just the trip to the CT scanner took a lot out of him even though he was wheeled there.

Tonight, I am leaving him with my Mom.  She's coming up here to stay so I can go out to dinner with two co-workers and spend some time with William.  I was treated to a wonderful dinner, too! Great food is made that much better by the company of great friends, and this one definitely topped the charts.  Scott and Julie could took me to a quaint little French/Alsatian restaurant in Decatur called Cafe Alsace.  The food was wonderful!! Baked brie with fig preserves and fresh French bread, salad with fig and honey dressing, coquille Saint Jacques with a black truffle flan, and for dessert - dark chocolate mousse!

I think this is my new favorite restaurant.  The interior of the restaurant was small, quaint, and wherever you looked there was something interesting hanging on the wall.  Oh, and the staff was French, too.  However, I think the most enjoyable part of the evening, aside from the food and company, was the variety of schemes we were considering to break Scott's car out of the parking lot if we couldn't get the gate to raise.  It took us a while to find where to pay for parking.  We even scoped out where the cameras were - jokingly, of course.  I would like to thank them both for a wonderfully relaxing evening!

After returning to the hospital, I spent a little more time with Chase and then headed back to my parent's house to spend some time with William.  I'm so glad my parents live within easy driving distance of Egleston.  It has made spending an evening or the night with William much easier.  Although I still feel like I'm doing a "fly by", my time with him is far more relaxed since I don't have to worry about being on the road for 40 additional minutes to see him.  It's nice sometimes just to sit on the sofa side-by-side and watch whatever is on TV.  This visit? Several episodes on The Military Channel, one of which was Top 10 Tanks.

Tomorrow, William will be coming up to the hospital to see his brother.  He hasn't been there since February 17th.  Chase has been asking quite a bit to see him.  He missed William, but honestly he isn't up to extended visits.  I'm not even sure he will be able to stay awake for a short visit, but given how adamant he's been, he may surprise us.  Because William hasn't seen him, I plan on showing him pictures of Chase before he actually goes into his room.  I don't want him to be caught off guard.  I know seeing actual pictures will shake him up, but I would rather him go in knowing what he'll face than be surprised.  Although I don't think they view themselves as identical twins, it isn't a far stretch for William to imagine himself in Chase's place.

Until tomorrow, we continue to take things one day at a time.  Thank you for your continued prayers and for keeping Chase in your thoughts!

God Bless