Took the E.R. eight hours to decide what her doctor's office would have determined in no more than one hour.
Unfortunately, her oncologist is on vacation until Monday. She had diarrhea Wednesday, then her temp spiked Thursday. White cell count is low again. They're concerned about her heart rate (122) and her breathing seems labored even though she says she's fine. They also scanned for blood clots but found none. The swelling in her left arm (lymphedema) is worse and some of her fingernails look bruised. Might fall off.
The Phys. Asst. said they might have to seriously consider changing the chemo. This mix is beating her up too much. Five hospital visits in six months.
Last Wednesday evening Carol had a fever and diarrhea. Called the doctor. She said to come to the office Thursday morning. Thursday she was tired, pale. Bloodwork showed low numbers again (she got two pints of blood recently because her hemoglobin dropped to 7.0). Her doctor decided to admit her, do more tests and another blood transfusion.
Test results showed she had C. Diff. - bacterial infection. From what I read, we all have the C. Diff bacteria in our intestines, along with other bad bacteria and a bunch of good bacteria. In a strong, healthy body the good bacteria keep the bad bacteria in check. In a body that is getting beat up with chemo drugs and/or dosed with lots of strong antibiotics (she's had tons of strong antibiotics several times over the last five months), too many of the good bacteria get killed off and the C. Diff bacteria take over and cause infection and irritation in the colon. This is also contagious, so we had to wear masks and gowns when we visited Carol in the hospital, not to mention clean the house and do laundry with bleach. Of course, they had to give her an antibiotic to kill the C.Diff but there are only a few that work. They put her on Flagyl. With that and the blood transfusion, things seemed to get better quickly. They sent her home Sunday with a Rx for another five days of Flagyl. Monday was good but Tuesday she was extra tired and her stomach was kinda yucky. No fever. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she isn't heading for relapse. This made four hospital stays in six months. The day she came home was birthday #65 for me, but by the time we were able to sit and take a deep breath it felt closer to #95. Her oncologist wants Carol to have three more treatments with this chemo mix and then try giving her Herceptin alone. She has a treatment scheduled for next Thursday so it will be nine more weeks of the hard stuff beating her up.