This morning Mom was feeling "normal" and looked good. She was scheduled to receive two units of blood and the new procedure is to pre-medicate Mom with Tylenol and Benadryl before she gets a transfusion. She received both units today and didn't have any trouble with them. She hasn't been able to eat a lot of the food they have been giving her--too much meat and foods that just don't taste good any more. She is slightly nauseous most of the time and doesn't like the sight or smell of some of these foods. Today the dietitian came up to talk with her about foods she could tolerate. She is now receiving a list of all the available foods for each day and she can order just the things that sound and taste good to her. One thing that she enjoys is chocolate milk and the dietitian suggested she might like milkshakes. That sounded good to Mom and they are a good thing for her to have because extra nutrients can be added to them. She had a chocolate milkshake at lunch and she enjoyed the whole thing.
At 2:00 this afternoon, Dr. Abolnik, an infection control doctor, came in. He confirmed that Mom has a serious blood infection--something like gram negative bascilli. He doubled the dose of antibiotic she has been on since last night and added two more antibiotics to treat the infection. Two of these are administered by IV and the other one comes in a pill. The doctor said he wanted the picc line removed so they could test it and make sure that there wasn't infection harboring in it and causing the infection in her blood. He also ordered an ultrasound of her heart to see if there is any infection there. The results of the ultrasound should come later tonight.
Mom has done well today--her vitals have been good and she hasn't run a fever or had chills. She went for a walk around the floor this morning and sat on the couch for a while. The Benadryl made her a bit tired but she couldn't take a nap because there was so much going on during the day. She finally nodded off late in the afternoon and was asleep when I left. She didn't get her second blood transfusion until this afternoon because the unit had to come from Salt Lake. The nurse said that as soon as it was finished, they would remove the picc line and insert a peripheral line for now. She will need to have a new picc line within a few days. Her infection is a serious thing but she is getting really good treatment for it and she still has a very positive and upbeat attitude. She enjoys receiving emails and feels strenghth and comfort from your faith and prayers.
Love, Kathie
