White cells are maybe, infection is definite

 Today is T + 10. Since I last posted Karl has had a hard couple of days. He had a fever three nights ago, which meant he was put on antibiotics right away (Pip/taz), and blood was taken to be cultured. The culture came back Gram Positive Cocci... means nothing to me...but they added another antibiotic. The doctor's first choice was Vancomyecin, but Karl has had reactions to that, so another antibiotic was chosen. Then that one got nixed by pharmacy because it could possibly interfere with something else Karl takes. I have no idea what antibiotic he is on right now in addition to the Pip/taz, although we were told and I could have been smart and taken a photo of the label as it hung on the iv pole, but I didn't. Today the cultures came back telling us that the bacteria found in Karl's blood is a form of staphylococcus. He will continue to get the new iv antibiotic for 14 days from yesterday as long as he progresses and the echocardiogram they have ordered doesn't show any impact on his heart. I'll leave that for now unless something shows up.  The Pip/taz might be stopped soon as long as he continues to show no signs of additional infections. 

Along with the infection, Karl's platelets have dropped. So far he has had 2 bags of platelets. Not unexpected, but it didn't happen last time. 

Now for the positive news. Yesterday his white blood cells measured at 0.2. Today they are at 0.4. The neutrophils aren't measured separately on the weekend, but they would be included in that 0.4. Hopefully another at least doubling tomorrow, and a measure of the neutrophils. Karl is eating and drinking very little (they are giving him lots of fluids through iv), but he does still have some energy. More than last time I think. We managed a short walk through one of the areas I knew would be mostly empty today.

Keep the prayers and positive thoughts coming!

Comments

  1. Bill Radford17 June 2025 at 13:13

    Denise. We are away until 27 June. If you need anything at least one of us will be home through the summer. Don’t hesitate. I do mean anything.

    ReplyDelete

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