With Eric a bit under the weather, he started the week pretty chill. He was resting and building Lego. No signs of fever. Joel and I were busy painting his room and assembling his new bed frame.
On Wednesday morning Eric wasn't feeling too bad when we hit the road for clinic, but by the time we got through traffic and walked up to his room, he was feeling pretty miserable. He got his access, bloodwork and platelet transfusion. Both his Oncologist and Nurse Practitioner listened to his lungs and said they sounded clear, but he was very congested. We were about to do the de-access and take off when Eric said: Mama, I feel hot. The nurse checked his temp and, sure enough, 38.5. She went to go tell his Oncologist and we waited to see what he wanted to do. The team ordered a nasal swab and blood cultures, but said that we could go home with a course of oral antibiotics. Since Eric actually has some Neutrophils, germ fighting white blood cells, they weren't too worried about treating with IV antibiotics. The Oncologist asked us to stop by for a chest x-ray on our way out as well. All of that took awhile, but we eventually made it home. After a bit of a nap in the car and a rest in his bed at home, Eric was back to building Lego by dinnertime. The cultures were negative, but the swab was positive for entero/rhino virus which is the common cold.
We had planned to go to Playland on Thursday and had to cancel that, but at least Eric didn't have any further fever. He rested most of the day, building Lego on and off, while Joel and I went to Costco. We were planning to go out of town Friday evening so we had our fingers crossed that Eric would be well enough to go and went about getting ourselves prepped to go.
On Friday we were back to clinic to top up platelets before leaving town. Eric's Oncologist came in first thing to examine Eric and said that he was definitely somewhat improved over Wednesday. He got his platelet transfusion, but his hemoglobin was low so he had a blood transfusion as well. This wasn't a surprise to us as often when he has a virus it eats through his hemoglobin. Eric's Oncologist also requested an ECG while we were there and Eric's heart rhythm is improved to normal sinus rhythm, over the borderline prolonged QT he had before. Eric's White Blood Cell count is quite high, but that is primarily due to the virus. His blast count is still relatively low at 1.6.
With the cold it was a bit touch and go getting out of town, but we got the okay to go. We went home, packed the car and booked it for the ferry. We are spending a week at our friends' place on the lake and we are so grateful they are willing to put up with us for a week! Thanks D&R!!
WCK (West Coast Kids Cancer Foundation) posted a pic of Eric at day camp a couple weeks ago on their social media.
