Back in the Hospital

Chemo #3 Day 11

Ma has been feeling weak and had been asking Pa since yesterday to take her to the emergency room. She insisted again this morning, and Pa finally took her. Her white blood cell count (WBC) was 33.2. Normal range is 10.8 max. The doctor thinks Ma has a bad infection and decided to admit her.

It took several hours to get Ma to a room. She was still in the emergency room when I arrived even though I took my time getting to the hospital. She ended up in her old room on the telemetry floor. That's the floor where the patients are put on a wireless device that monitors their heart.

Dr. Reis, one of the pulmunologists, stopped by soon after Ma arrived in her room. He thinks there's nothing wrong with her. The weakness she feels is a side effect of the chemo. The high WBC could be due to the Neulasta shot she got on August 7, nine days ago. Also, she has no fever. She'll continue her antibiotic (Zosyn), and if she does well tomorrow, she can go home on Monday.

At the emergency room, Ma's nurse knew how to access her port, so he didn't have to use her arm to give her IV. They still used her arm to draw blood though. When I arrived in the emergency room, her antibiotic drip was done, but she was not given Heparin to ensure her port stays clear, nor was she on a saline drip to keep her line open (TKO). I insisted that Pa ask her nurse to put her on saline TKO, and the nurse had no problem doing so.

Kuya Jess, Helen, and their youngest son Jerel drove up from LA to visit Ma. That was really nice of them. Of course they expected to visit her at the house, not at the hospital. They arrived in the late afternoon with Kuya Richard and brought a box of mamons. Yum! I forgot to take photos, darn it. By the way, Monday is Kuya Jess' birthday. He turns 30 x 2. Happy birthday!

Ma had other visitors. One of the nurses upstairs was expecting Ma on her floor before they decided to change her room. She came down anyway to see how Ma's doing. The security guard downstairs, who's a patient of Pa's, also stopped by to say hello.

I left the hospital around 8:30pm after Pa came back from the house. He is staying overnight in Ma's room. There's a second bed in the room that he can use.