By Gillian
Yesterday, we went to Worcester hospital for the usual weekly bag change and routine discussion with the consultant oncologist, and ended the day with Chris being admitted to Cheltenham hospital and put in an isolation ward with no visitors allowed. Not quite how we had expected the day to pan out!
It is the middle week of the chemo cycle, when Chris’s immune system is most compromised. For the past few days his temperature has been fluctuating considerably. It never got to the threshold of 38 degrees where I’m instructed to drop everything and phone the chemotherapy helpline, and he didn’t feel too grotty, so I wasn’t particularly worried. But the consultant took a rather different view. It was clear that Chris was fighting off an infection, but the question was whether his immune system was strong enough to do so without help. So Chris had some blood samples taken and we were asked to wait at the hospital while the lab analysed them. They also did the usual tests on him – blood pressure, temperature, etc. Just our luck, his temperature hit 38 degrees when the nurse took the measurement – a clear warning sign of an infection. Then the lab results came back. The answer was definitive – Chris was neutropenic, that is he was at greatly increased risk of infection with a very low white cell count.
The consultant decided that he would take no chances, and that it was probably unsafe to send Chris home with me. That was a good call, as I have come down with a cold & sore throat today which would most definitely do Chris no good at all. Instead we called in at home to collect the “grab bag” we keep packed and ready, and I drove him down to Cheltenham hospital, arriving there around 7pm. The ward was full, but the consultant had already phoned the ward doctor to instruct him that Chris must be admitted, even if his temperature had dropped back closer to normal. It sounds like a whole lot of juggling of beds went on behind the scenes, and Chris was finally put in a single room on the isolation wing at about 3 o’clock this morning.
The regime sounds pretty strict. He’s allowed no visitors, not even me (in fact probably especially not me while I have a sore throat etc). He’s on a restricted diet, with no eggs, pate, soft cheese, sandwiches, un-peeled fruit etc. Hygiene is paramount, and he has to use mouthwashes after brushing his teeth to keep his mouth disinfected. He’s on a sequence of drips, including several doses of intravenous antibiotics. He’s not allowed in the day room, but has to stay in his single en-suite room. There is a TV, but he’s running out of books to read and is getting pretty bored. There is a (free!) telephone which he can use, which is a real life-line. And we don’t know how long he will have to stay there – it will be for as long as it takes to get his white blood cell count up to a state where he has a functioning immune system. So possibly the whole weekend.
{ 14 } Comments
Gillian -thanks for the update. Please pass on my best wishes to Chris and I hope you are feeling better soon. Mike K.
The news is a shock, but at least Christopher is in the safest possible place. Please let him know that I am thinking of him constantly,
As for books he might enjoy Jeremy Dyson’s stories, He has published two paperback volumes, both in stock at Amazon,
Alan
Hi Gillian, hope he’s feeling better soon – there do seem to be a lot of infections about at the moment (I seem to have had most of them…). At least he can watch the unfolding cornucopia of excitement that is our General Election 😉
Hi Gillian,
Please pass on my good wishes to Chris as well. Hope he starts feeling better soon!
Ouch! Running out of books! That would be the worst aspect of the hospitalisation. Hope you are feeling better – and have something more to read.
Hi Gillian,
Please pass on best wishes to Chris and hopefully you will both be feeling better and back together soon. When he is feeling up to it remind him about another trip out.
Hugh
Thanks for the good wishes everyone. Gillian brought my laptop and some books to the hospital, thanks to Ian P. who gave her a much needed lift here, so I’m able to thank you all in person.
Mike, I’m feeling better already. Alan, I’ll check out Jeremy Dyson immediately. David, I watched from about 10 to 11, and then from 6 to 9, that’s how boring it is sitting without books. Hugh, I’ll think about it, but I’m concerned that I’m not going to feel up to it for a while, at least until the chemo course is finished.
I’m glad you’re feeling better, Chris!
Thanks Ryan, I am. I’m hoping to be let out today, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Could you pass on my best wishes, hope you escape the hospital soon.
Paul, consider them passed on. Thank you for them too. Escaped today.
Good heavens! Thanks for keeping us posted, Gillian, and feel better, Chris!
Thanks very much Gillian, for putting up what must have been an exhausting post! I hope Christopher is much better feeling by now. Had dinner at the Wenks last evening with crazy Scrabble – you can imagine how much fun it was!! ;-D My best to both of you! —sue h
Thanks Sue – Chris is feeling quite a bit better, though it’s slow progress. Dinner at the Wenks sounds fun 🙂
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