Back at HUP

Hi all,

Well, I'm going to try and make this quick as I just got home from Penn a few minutes ago. Bob is back in HUP, on Rhoades 7 again. He started sneezing his head off last night and than got a little temp of 99.6. We thought he was starting w/ a cold, and he felt good this am, no fever, no cough etc. So, I went to work...believe it or not, my first day back since he came home. I spoke to him around 10:30a and he was fine. The visiting nurse had been here to draw labs and he still had no temp. Well, he called me at noon to say he was getting chills again, and was calling Dr. Luger to tell them he thought his Hickman cath was infected....remember this is the same central IV cath he's had in since March, and both episodes of fever came about 1 hr. after the lines were flushed. Dr. Lugers office called right back, said come on down and pack a bag. Now I must give them all the credit today, b/c we left the house at 1p and Bob was in his room by 3:30pm!!!! He's been started on IV abx, had a chest x-ray, and they are going to keep him on round the clock tylenol to try and keep him afebrile....when his temp went up tonight he had rigors the likes of which I have never seen. They had to give him IV demerol and ativan, and they still lasted over 30 mins. However I am happy to report that before that he did eat his crumbed chicken dinner!!!! By the time I left, his temp was on its' way down, and I freshened him and his bed, and got him set up w/ the dvd player. They are pretty certain that his line is infected, b/c once again, this episopde came after they drew blood out of it and flushed it. So, while they will not take it out until they have a positive culture, and than only if it's a resistant microorganism, they will not use the line anymore either. So Bobs' nurse was starting a peripheral IV when I called to say I was home, and he'll have to get stuck for labs, but the shaking and chills were so bad, he now has neck and back pain and needs codeine and flexeril....so he said he's happy to get pinched a few times to not have to go through the rigors anymore.

Wish I was writing w/ more good news, but hoping and praying this is just a bump in the road that will be taken care of quickly. Please keep us in your prayers again(I know you haven't ever stopped) and please send along a little blog for him to read. He's really down in the dumps over this. Thank you all for being so supportive and encouraging, and sticking w/ us through it all....it means more than you'll ever know.

All our love,
Bob and Mo