We have had a quiet two months no hospitalization since Dec then Thursday night Dick started running a fever. I told him we are going to the ER and he didn't fuss about it. After being at the ER all night they decided to admit him and the Medical Attending Resident came to see him. Dick told her that he was there because I overreacted. ??? I told her what his complaints had been and then the fever came up and she said I had done the right thing by bringing him in. By then they knew he had a UTI. Well Duh! They kept him in the ER until late Friday night as they had to wait for a single room to keep him in isolation because of the history of MRSA. We are waiting for the results of the blood and urine cultures. They could not do a CT scan because his creatinine level was too high on Friday but they hoped with hydration they could give him the contrast to do a CT to check the soft tissues. He is supposed to have that today.
The good news is the abscess behind his kidney has shrunk according to the ultrasound but they want more information. He is on Vancomycin and Cipro by IV and is sleeping alot because of the infection and the pain medication for his nerve pain in his chest. The nerve pain is the result of the lung surgery that removed the tumor in October. The Dr. told him that anesthesiology could do a nerve block and he is interested in that as he is taking pain meds all the time now. The fever is elevating the pain level and he now says it is at 7 or 8 most of the time and shoots up to 10 when he coughs.
I sure hope that this is not a return of the MRSA. He was going to be treated with medication for his MDS which would depress his bone marrow function for a few weeks until it took hold. The hope is he responds to that medication which will bring his red blood cell count up to normal as it runs about 10 now with weekly shots of epogen.
My worry is that if his blood is back to normal that he might see more tumor growth. With his red blood cell count low he is not getting a lot of oxygen to all the cells like he would if his count was normal. There always seems to be a trade off. The oncologist tells us the Revlimid does have anti tumor properties so I hope it will keep the CIS in his kidneys and ureters in check.
We are waiting and watching for any more mets. Julie
