Pain in the Ass

On Friday we came in for our regular blood work, expecting to go home once the blood transfusion was finished… well…team Jer has been in the hospital since Friday March 11^th. I apologize to everyone for not posting sooner, but these last 5 days have been tough. As I was trying to deal with and digest all that was going on, I couldn’t gather enough motivation to write a post, so I apologize if you have been worried, or have heard any incorrect information

My Dad’s counts have completely bottomed out, and he is now dependent on either blood or platelet transfusions whenever his counts go below the transfusion limit. I now see and appreciate the importance of donating blood. In one day alone, my Dad received 4 bags of blood.

The “lower body” abscess has come back, along with a small nodule under his armpit. On Friday they did an ultrasound of both situations. The armpit showed no fluid accumulation and is diagnosed as celluliitis (skin infection caused by bacteria). My Dad was put on an antibiotic to combat this, as this inflammation is a sign of an infection.

Now onto this abscess… a little thing we like to call, a pain in the ass! The ultrasound showed that it was definitely back, and the interventional radiologist wanted it drained ASAP. The doctor manually drained the abscess with a long needle and then inserted a drainage system into the abscess with tubing coming out of his body; allowing the rest of it to drain naturally into a bag. Because my Dad’s platelets were extremely low, the doctors had to insert and attach this drain in a different position then last time. This new position is the WORST! Yes the abscess was drained, and that’s a good thing, but the amount of pain my Dad has had to endure for the last 5 days has probably been one of the hardest things I have had to watch to date. He is currently on an aggressive amount of pain meds to help alleviate some of this pain. The drain was only in for 5 days last time, so this time they would like to keep it in for a few days longer to hopefully allow for an increased chance of healing. The bacteria that was found in the abscess has also manage to escape from the area and go into the bloodstream, causing a systemic infection. This has caused my Dad to battle chill attacks and fevers of almost 40 degrees Celsius. Our doctors will be consulting with the surgeons regarding the abscess, as this pain in the ass must be resolved prior to any further treatment for the leukemia.

Just yesterday we added another bacteria to the mix. This one is systemic, and will hopefully respond to antibiotic treatment. For those of you keeping track, that is 3 strains of bacteria in his body, getting treated with 3 different kinds of antibiotics. Who ever said 3’s a crowd is right. Except in men’s fantasies.

Another echocardiogram was ordered and done yesterday. Having a systemic infection means that the bacteria are in the blood, which is allowing the bacteria access to your entire body. The ECHO was to determine if the infection had gotten into his heart valves, which it has NOT. Put that one in the win column!

We are still awaiting the results from his siblings.