8/28 update

Hello everyone,

We thought it would be important for us to give an update tonight. We had been scheduled for chemo tomorrow morning if everything went smoothly through tonight. Unfortunately, we'll be having a bit of a delay again. Wednesday night while I was at work Whitney called and said that she was on her way to the ER, that Maggie had a fever. Earlier in the day, we noticed that she had some significant rashes on her legs and back. Interestingly enough, they were located exactly where she had pressure applied while in the hospital. Most of her left thigh was red, spotty, and warm to the touch. Exactly where she had a bandage wrapped around her leg to secure her catheter while in the hospital. Also, most of her left calf was covered as well, where a blood pressure cuff was placed for much of Maggie's time in the hospital. Next, a small strip on her right ankle, where her identification band was located. Finally, an oddly shaped shape on her back. We think maybe this was where one of her leads was located--the wire that connected her to the machine that measures her vitals. We're not sure about this one. However, we hadn't seen (and still haven't) mouth sores! This has been such a relief, so far.

Of course standard protocol is to rush in, get antibiotics started and draw blood cultures for the lab to begin exploring what is causing the fever. We don't mess around with infections, sickness, or fevers. I ended up working until 9PM, and sometime around 9:30 Whitney was told that Maggie could go home, much to our surprise. I was in the process of packing my car with our clothes and other essentials. The key factors that allowed her to go home were 1) Maggie looked and felt relatively good, and 2) her counts are normal--she's able to fight the bug on her own and prevent it from spreading or otherwise worsening.

Today we went to the clinic to see Dr. French (Maggie's primary oncologist) and were told that there was a bacterial infection growing in the cultures drawn last night. It is gram positive (her last infection was gram negative, for those who understand what that means). Further, it appeared today that it was likely a pretty ordinary bug, not a strange or rare one. So we'll find out tomorrow if it is a strep infection, or a staph infection of some kind. She's already on an antibiotic that should take care of it.

However, we won't start chemo until they know for sure that they've identified it, knocked it out, and made sure that it isn't lingering in her IV tubing. There is a 25% chance for every bacterial infection that the IV tubing could be ruined, permanently infected by the bacteria--which would lead to a new surgery, a new broviac, and more frustration, delay, and additional pain for Maggie. We are desperate to hear good news next week that the infection clears out of the broviac (IV). Once it is determined that the bug is gone and clear from her line, we should be okayed to continue chemo.

So, we are having a delay, but a fairly routine one at this point. Maggie has been running fevers in the 99.5 to 100.3 range. Not too significant, and she seems to feel okay. We've had some difficulty getting her to take and keep down Tylenol as she's thrown it up a couple times, only to bounce back, eat some more, and act normally right away. Tomorrow we go back to see the doctor, get another dose of the IV antibiotics, and discuss our plans given the exact bug being identified. We'll be home over the weekend, more than likely, but unable to attend family gatherings (birthday parties). So that's frustrating. But we're glad that Maggie is okay and we will hopefully get on track with more chemo in the first half of next week.

Continued thanks for your concern, prayers, support, comments, and generosity.