Today his white count has dropped from 700 to 300, so he won’t be going home until his white count comes back up. They think it might be ischemic colitis but the treatment will be the same regardless. He’s back in his right mind but hates being in the hospital ( it’s a tough place to be an OCD germophobe).
300 OMG. Is this because of or at least in part due to receiving chemo? For those playing along at home 4,000 is typically the lower end for a white count to about 10,000 being considered normal. CCMs should go up to respond to his infection not down.
After that I get a bit in the weeds as to how chemo effects this which I’m pretty sure chemo will be stopped until this resolves. Could the colitis also be the source of the blood loss they never were able to pinpoint?
How are you doing with all of this? While day to day I’m pretty okay without a GF I could only hope someone like you would find their way into my life if I was going through this. I just hope you’re doing okay.
DonH Midwest Me 56 WAW-EXW 55 Met 11/95 / Married 5/00 Bomb 6/20/05 / She Filed on 6/2/06 / Divorced on 10/9/06 4 who'd qualify as GF since D & dated about 25 women since D
The low white count is likely due to the combination of chemo and radiation to the pelvic bones, which is where a large amount of bone marrow is stored.
He did not have evidence of colitis last fall when he was scoped from above and below so no, don’t think colitis was the cause of his earlier blood loss. Surprisingly, his red blood cell count has only dropped a little despite the bloody stools.
It is an issue for single adults, who will care for them? I’ve got three siblings and three kids, so I feel safe. But my friend who died of ovarian cancer last fall had no children, no spouse. She struggled through her treatments with friends and her roommate to help. When she finally qualified for Medicare she moved to live with cousins in Florida (couldn’t move before because Florida doesn’t have expanded Medicaid) and she died within a couple of months.
Now, a romantic partner is no guarantee of care - I always knew on some level that I wouldn’t be able to count on my ex if I had gotten some life-threatening Disease . But it would be comforting to have someone to lean on if the worst happens, and you can sometimes lean on a partner in ways you can’t on your kids.
He’s doing ok, fever staying down and white count coming up, but still with diarrhea and nausea. GI doc was there when I came in tonight and she agreed with me that it probably wasn’t ischemic colitis but colitis secondary to radiation enteritis. I also managed to convince her to talk to the internists about changing his hospital diet (meat and vegetables and MILK for cripes sake. Have they never heard of the BRAT diet? Don’t they know that even ordinary gastroenteritis renders people temporarily lactose intolerant, meaning milk would give you - diarrhea??! Sheesh. )
Stool tests for pathogens were normal, blood cultures are still cooking. If he can stop all this diarrhea he might be able to go home towards the end of the week,
Keeping you and CMM in my prayers. Take care of yourself!
Me 52, H53 Bomb drop 9/29/2014 Divorce from XH final 12/17/2014 Marriage #2 12/31/2019 5 adult (step)daughters (3 from XH's first marriage, 2 from current H's previous relationships) 6 grandkids
How is CMM doing? How are you doing? Please take care of yourself. You've got a lot on your plate these days.
Sit quietly, the answers will reveal themselves when you least expect them to. The past is gone, the present is a gift and you need to focus on today, allow the future to reveal itself when it is ready.
CMM should be coming home today. Blood cultures were negative at 72 hours (meaning no bacterial infection in his bloodstream). Diarrhea was a little bit better yesterday on improved diet (no MILK!) so they will be letting him out today. Nurse last night said she came in to find him cleaning lol. Hospitals are not comfortable places for germophobes.
I'm tired but doing ok. My boys have been looking after me. Today's the last day of my workweek so I will be free to look after CMM once he gets home. Been getting enough sleep.
Excellent news! Keep up with as much of the self-care as you can.
Laughing at him cleaning - I can sympathize. When we lived in a small apartment my now ex used to say that she knew when I wasn't feeling well because she'd come home and the apartment would be all re-arranged. I've been told that lately I have a tendency to re-make the bed in the middle of the night while I'm still in it. Fortunately my occasional companion seems to be fine with that even if she thinks it rather weird.
On BD H52, W50 T27, M26 S21, D23 BD-9-Mar-16 D-15-Jan-18 Final-19-Apr-18 I am a storyteller. The story may do you no good. But a story is never for the listener. It is always for the one who tells
