Bug patrol for the next week or so

Giving Peg antibiotics through her port three times a day to make sure the Staph infection doesn't come back. No needles, just screwing several syringes in succession into the port after lots of disinfection with an alcohol pad. Saline, Antibiotics, Saline, Heperin.

Peg was pretty wiped out today. Still trying to absorb the edema (accumulated fluids) she acquired by being on an IV drip for almost eight days. Not eating enough to maintain her weight, but hopefully her appetite will return. She doesn't want to force herself to eat and then be miserable because she can only digest so much.

Peg's home!

So why this picture? I'll bet when you saw it, you said, "Awwwww." That's how I felt when I saw Peg sitting in her chair, at our house, without all the chaos she's been through the last eight days.

This hospitalization was actually tougher than the last one a few weeks ago, which involved surgery. So good to have her home.

Her energy level is limited, but don't be shy about calling or visiting. Just check first to see if she's up for it.

xx

Peg's probably coming home tomorrow

In case you're wondering about the photo, that's what I've nicknamed Peg's next door neighbor, an older gentleman with a very deep voice who's constantly yelling, moaning or talking at the volume of...I don't know...a truckload of live pigs locking up the brakes on a downhill outside curve at 90mph.

Hoping she'll come home tomorrow. Dr. B. wanted to make sure she's feeling good before she's released, and today she was feeling punky (probably from yesterday's procedures). I was with her tonight and she said she felt better. Her appetite is definitely better, although once again I hoovered up what she couldn't finish. 

Hey, I'm a guy. And an old dog.

After two cold and rainy days, it'll be sunny and in the 60's tomorrow. Perfect weather for coming home.

A +

...describes both Peg's blood type and her condition tonight. She sounds and looks much better than yesterday.

We did our hospital ritual where I chat with her while she eats her dinner, then she gives me the tray and I hoover down the leftovers.

Dr. Patella (our primary care doc) checked in and told us just how close we were to losing Peg. If she hadn't been admitted on Thursday, she would have been gone by Saturday. Every day is a gift...that's why it's called the present.

Home Thursday, probably, and getting stronger

Her appetite is coming back and she's getting two units of blood, a paracentesis (fluid off her abdomen), and her nephrostomy tube taken out tomorrow. All pointing toward liftoff on Thursday.

The blue circle is where our sweet Peggy sleeps as I write this. If you need hospitalization,  this is the place to be...the Taj Mahal of hospital care.

Not out of the woods, but better

We met with our primary doc and Peg's oncologist tonight. I didn't realize just how serious a bacterial blood infection is...many people don't survive it. But her white cell count and temperatures are good, so everything is working.

Having said that, she's still thin and frail, and not eating a whole lot besides liquids. Not sure when she'll come home (probably not before Thursday or Friday).

She's been through a lot the last few weeks. No chemo in the foreseeable future. Her CA125 numbers have only crept up from 420 to just over 500 after six weeks off chemotherapy, so there's no urgency to rush back into treatment. The main thing now is for her to get stronger, get her appetite back, and not be miserable.

Peggy is up for visitors, but I'd still like to be the "bouncer" so she's not bombarded with folks when she has such limited energy. Call me or email me. Love to all.

It's "Ick B" (the not horrible kind)

...but the port may still have to come out if it's a source of infection. A staph infection is nothing to monkey around with...it can become very serious very quickly.

Tomorrow Kristie, Peg's oncologist, will weigh in. But nothing will happen surgically until Tuesday at the earliest.

Peg looked better tonight. She has a pint of minty-fresh blood on board via IV and the antibiotics have kept her temps consistently normal.

Port update

It may not have to be removed, and it would be a very good thing for it to stay in. The lab cultures available on Tuesday will show which strain of ick is the source of the infection. If it's Ick A, the port will need to come out, delaying chemo by several weeks when she's already six weeks out. If it's Ick B, antibiotics will take care of the little bastards.

Peg has a small army of big-brain docs (surgeons and oncologists) following her, all with differing opinions on treatment. But at least for tomorrow, they'll just stay the course. Her fever is under control and she was able to eat better today. Will post again after Zoë and I get back from the hospital later this evening.

Zoë and I rode 20 miles today next to the American River. It was 55 degrees by the end of the ride, and of course, she was dressed in shorts and a tee shirt as usual...

It was Col. Mustard...in the library...with the port

Peg met with an infectious disease doc this morning, who agreed with our primary doc that her chemo port is not only the source of her infection, but probably has been for a long time. That explains why she's felt so lousy for so long.

A port goes just under the skin below her clavicle. The tube goes directly into the vena cava, the main heart artery. This is what it looks like...purple anodized aluminum. When Peg went into remission in October 2010 her first port came out, and is now in a drawer somewhere. The new port went in last May when she was re-diagnosed. She'll probably have to get another one at some point to facilitate chemotherapy.

She sounds better today and says she feels better. No word on when she's coming home, but she's up for (limited) visitation, prefaced by a phone call to make sure she's up for it. There's no way to turn off her room phone and calls can be disruptive (on top of the parade of hospital folks coming in and out the door), so if you have a hankering to call or see the Pegster get ahold of me first...thanks.