Skip to main content

From Mathew's Notes Spiking A fever

From Mathew’s Notes  *****

3-6-14
Talk to Dr about genitals swelling
Get test done on testicles - imaging is clear -edema is the problem.
Talked with Dr. Knight - she said the possibility of death was much higher than expected due to pressure on my organs, especially because of vena cava.
Dr. Gonzales is not optimistic.

Wheezing, probably due to fluid in lungs.
Chest x-ray to monitor fluid levels in lungs.

8:30 p.m. temp of 101.7. Highest in two weeks. 
Nurse says temp has been up and down.
Blood sample taken from pic line
Blood sample taken from arm
Bile sample taken
All taken to test for a bacterial infection 

Heavy doses of diuretics and laxatives give some relief from everything caught inside.



I took a moment before writing this post.  The last few posts have been a series of medical dramas, fever, fluid in the lungs, possibly organ failure and so on.
It may be a tough read if you read them in a row.
I considered breaking them up with a picture or two of Mathew or a list, anything to break the tension.
Then, I realized, this is what I want to get across. Every minute, every hour and day we were on edge, in fear, and on high alert.

This was before we understood what all of these symptoms meant or how close to death Mathew was, I can only imagine how Mathew’s medical team, which was forming, with pain and palliative, surgical oncology, and now Sarcoma were closely monitoring his condition.


***** Please keep in mind that Mathew can barely write at this point. Many of his notes are scribbled. He is in terrible pain and can hardly move.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

About this Blog, A Journey Through Sarcoma

Confections for Cats, A Journey through Sarcoma is a chronicle of my son's journey through Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Sarcoma. It is intended to educate and inspire by using Mathew’s thoughts and feelings, dreams and fears through a variety of mediums; art, music, and writing. Through factual experience, what we learned and what we wish we had known. Mathew’s desire was to give meaning to his journey and in the process help anyone else on a similar path. The last possible explanation in my mind for my son’s health problems was cancer. Even the words “the scan shows a large mass” didn’t lead me to conclude cancer and when the cancer diagnosis was confirmed, I still wasn’t prepared. My Mother is a breast cancer survivor and my sister Elizabeth passed away three years after her breast cancer diagnosis. I thought I knew what cancer treatment and living with cancer looked like, but none of us could imagine or be prepared for how all semblance of routine and normalcy had alre...
Post a Comment
Read more

When a Cancer Patient Has a Medical Emergency

3 Days in the DRC, Part 1 If you haven’t read my first post about the DRC at Moffitt and how it works, since Moffitt does not have an ER, you can read about it here.  https://confectionsforcats.blogspot.com/2018/04/neutropenic-fever-after-ie-chemo-and.html In summary, the DRC is where an existing Moffitt patient is directed to go if they have a medical emergency.  Usually, we would be there a few hours or overnight (since we arrived at midnight or shortly afterward) until they had a room for Mathew on the ward. This particular visit Mathew stayed in the DRC three days. As mentioned in my other post, the DRC has maybe two rooms with a bathroom; otherwise, one bathroom for about a dozen patients. In Mathew’s case, a patient with a lowered immune system.  This time Mathew was in the room furthest from the bathroom.  When inpatient, we had a routine for getting him to the bathroom. First, he needed the IV unplugged (often quickly) and most times, I ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Second Chance for Sperm Cryopreservation

After the family meeting with Dr. Reed, he had the results of Mathew’s blood work taken earlier that morning. He told Mathew that he will go to the infusion center to receive his first outpatient VDC chemo. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we didn’t realize that this was the routine for these Sarcoma appointments. So Mathew was not mentally prepared for that chemo. Dr. Reed told him to come back tomorrow. “A day or two won’t make a difference,” he told us. Dr. Reed is one of the nicest people and an excellent doctor. I know he was just trying to assure us that it was okay to delay the chemo but when he said that I thought, “It doesn’t matter.”  I was still in let’s hurry, let’s push and muscle through the process to get to the other side. I hadn’t yet learned to live in the process.  So the subject of the Sperm Cryopreservation came up and that Mathew had not been able to provide a sample before his first chemo. Dr. Reed asked him if he wanted to try again since we...
Post a Comment
Read more