Alas, Eddie’s bone marrow transplant kick-off has been delayed thanks to some pesky bacteria that managed to find their way into his lungs.
We checked into the ER Tuesday evening, the night before Eddie’s scheduled “Arrival Date”, his official handoff to the Bone Marrow Transplant team.
This was Eddie’s third time going into the ER for a fever, so by now we’ve learned the drill. First, the ER staff checks your vitals, hears your story, and then takes some blood cultures and chest x-rays. Then, because they know that you are neutropenic they efficiently ply you with some broad antibiotics like Vancomyacin and Zosyn to quickly attack whatever bacterias running amok in your body.
Just keep shooting and hope you get those suckers. I guess that’s a good plan…
Chest rays, Eddie’s persistent cough, and a sharp pain that radiated from his chest to upper back all point to some inflammation in his right lung. The doctors tell us that Eddie has pneumonia.
Bacterial infection in the lungs :(
When you have Aplastic Anemia, it’s pretty hard to avoid infections, especially when you have to go to a bustling clinic every single day, like Eddie does. No matter how careful we are to wash our hands and avoid people and their germs, Eddie is still vulnerable.
Germs be everywhere.
Eddie was actually doing pretty well for the past 10 days at home. Unfortunately, his body has the uncanny ability to get sick just when he’s scheduled to meet the Bone Marrow Transplant team. The Bone Marrow Transplant doctors have become a gang of mythical creatures to me, like a pack of fairies we keep hearing about, but have yet to see with our own eyes.
No worries, though. We shall meet with them when Eddie’s feeling better.
Bone Marrow Transplant Team, we’re coming for you!
Eddie is still running a fever so that means they haven’t gotten a handle on the infection yet. We’re hopeful that the steady regimen of antibiotics they got him on will take care of business.
I will keep you all posted. In the mean time, send positive thoughts our way, please.