Hopped back into the hospital

Round 3 had been going quite smoothly and we were really enjoying our time at home… until Sunday night. On Sunday my Dad spiked a fever and it was back to the hospital for team Jer. Along with the fever, my Dad had been experiencing increasing amounts of pain in the abscessed area. The pain in the ass was back! How bad this time? We had to wait and see. He has also been experiencing some chest congestion; for this reason he is put on isolation until the nasal pharyngeal swab results come back; which will determine if a virus is causing this. (FYI- watching a nasal (nose) pharyngeal (pharynx=throat) swab was one of the most uncomfortable things I have been apart of yet! Its just as you imagine… swab goes up through the nose, down to the throat… you can all collectively gag with me)

It is Wednesday now (4/20 for all you hippies), and we are still in the hospital. He has been put on an IV antibiotic to help battle any infections or viruses he may have running around in his body (the results from the lab have yet to come back to definitely determine what the cause of the fever or chest congestion was). My Dad’s hemoglobin levels are struggling to make any gains, or even stay above the transfusion line (less the 80). He has received multiple bags of blood and a few bags of platelets, but he can’t seem to hold on to those red blood cells! Jer is going to have to start producing some RBCs STAT!

We went for an ultrasound on Monday to take a peep at the developments of Mr. Abscess. The ultrasound showed that the abscess is too small to do any type of intervention (ie. Drain) at this time. Once my Dad’s counts start coming up, his WBCs may go into worker mode and fill this abscess with pus; thus forcing us to drain it at that time. But, until then, the situation is under control with some good old pain meds.

The doctors are trying to get us out of here tonight and allow us to go on a pass until Friday. I don’t know how my Dad is getting to the hospital Friday, because it’s a holiday, and I don’t work holidays. Hopefully, Friday goes off without a hitch and his counts will be on the rise because we’d like to have Jer Diddy home for Easter weekend. Plus… there aren’t any good hiding spots for the Easter bunny in this hospital room.