Mountain Climber

Before Nick went in the hospital, we started watching Price Is Right in the mornings. There is a game on there called "Mountain Climber." The little Swiss dude yodels his way up the mountain and he is not supposed to fall off the edge of the cliff. Well right now Nick is that little Swiss dude and he is still climbing. Today he completed his 4th radiation treatment. We made a paper link chain to represent each day of the twelve treatments. And we take one off after he completes each day. He will now have a break over the weekend. Thank goodness as his counts have started to drop. His platelets are down to 102 from 170 and his WBC today were down to 750!! The nurse's and doctors postulate various theories as to why Nick's white count is now really low. The reasons in no particular order include: radiation treatment, infection, medications, Dasatinib, or just plain old neutropenic fever. Now I am way too tired to elaborate on these theories, but, suffice it to say, I am not happy that his counts are this low. If they are down due to radiation treatments, I am hoping that the weekend off will allow them time to recover.

Nick is doing better with his breathing issues. His oxygen requirement is lower and his sats are improved. However, he still has to be on the oxygen and nebulizer treatments. Nick is still having increased work of breathing and mild distress with any activity. However, today he actually took one lap, went back and forth to the real bathroom and sat up in a chair for a few hours. Today we discovered his oxygen wasn't working because it hadn't been hooked up to the wall correctly after a treatment. Nick was trying to sleep and he was very restless and could not get comfortable. He told me he couldn't breathe. Long story short we found the culprit and fixed it on our own. Apparently the respiratory therapist had not fastened the bottle back on correctly after one of Nick's treatments. This is the second time something like this has happened. Not sure what to say, but, you can be sure this doesn't help keep the worry meter stay in the green. Nick's appetite is slowly returning and as long as we keep bringing food from home he eats. The hospital food is just horrible! A pathetic state considering the high nutritional needs of BMT patients. Another story for another day.

Despite all the good news, Nick continues to spike a fever each night. No one seems to be able to explain the cause of the fever. Every night he has blood sent for cultures. His arms are like pin cushions between IV's and lab draws. How he can be having an infection on all this medicine, I can't figure out. It is possible it could be caused by one of his meds and or by the fact that he is neutropenic. Who knows?

This hospitalization seems interminably long. It is one thing when one is mentally prepared for a long stay, it is entirely another matter to be admitted not knowing when Nick will be well or when he will be able to come home. It seems there is a plot to keep us all in a state of sleep deprivation, high stress and low energy. It seems that we are paddling as fast as we can and getting no where fast. Need to go to bed...I am hoping to go to see my Gems compete tomorrow in Columbia, so Sara, Glenn and Kate will be on duty throughout the day. While Nick's counts are this low, he is more vulnerable that ever to bugs and germs, so any visitors must be in sterling health. Please send your love and support Nick's way in whatever way you can...cards, letters, email, FB etc. He really needs to know that people are still supporting him in this fight.