Rough Week for Joey

On Sunday, Joey fell asleep during church and woke up with a low fever.  He slept more in the afternoon and woke up with 101.6, so Dr Rosen told me to take him in to get checked out. We spent the evening in the ER having the normal checks done.  Nothing showed up that night and his counts were high enough, so they sent us home.

I kept him home from school on Monday to get some rest. On Monday night, at 11pm, the ER called us and told us to bring him back there right away.  They informed me that some bacteria had grown in the blood culture they took through his line.  They checked him to make sure he was doing ok and gave him the first dose of high-powered antibiotic through his line.

Tuesday morning, he didn't go to school and he slept until 11:30. That afternoon, he had his treatments that had already been scheduled.  He had a spinal, Vincristine (strong chemo) and started on his steroids for the week. They also gave him another dose of antibiotic. I had to try not to think about everything going on at the same time - it's a lot for his little body to handle.

Wednesday he had a good day at school and got another check-up and antibiotic dose. He had his first major steroid meltdown that evening...he cried and cried.

Today (Thursday), he went to school, but then fell asleep. When he woke up, he was crying for me and saying he didn't feel well, so I came and picked him up. Later, we went in for another antibiotic dose and found out that he needs to have his line removed.  The bacteria there now is the same kind that was there last month, so they think it's the same incidence.

Tomorrow morning (at 7am) we'll check in to the hospital for the surgery.  It should be quick, but he'll be put under, so that always makes it more of a big deal.

We had a several months there with few problems and we sort of got used to that. This week has been a bit of a reality check.