No Place Like Home

We went in to the infusion center on Friday for a regularly scheduled visit. We knew it would be a long day as Matt generally is very low on blood following chemotherapy treatment. And indeed he was low as expected. Matt was just overall not feeling great having very low energy; another sign of needing some blood. He also was still having issues from the radiation to the lungs. Due to inflammation the radiation causes to surrounding organs he was having a hard time eating regular solid foods. He lost several pounds and was mostly eating things that were smooth and easy to swallow. This is a limited subset of food options as you might expect. What we did not expect was to land an inpatient hospital stay after a long day at the infusion center.

During Matt’s infusions the nurses will take his temperature periodically to make sure all looks good. It’s always been in normal range. On Friday his temperature was slowly rising getting up to 101 at one point. Since he was also very low on white blood cells this can then become a problem. If your body is fighting off an infection (fever) and there’s no white blood cells to fend off the infection then things could spiral out of control quickly. Their rule of thumb is that if temperature rises above 99.5 with low white blood cells you earn a stay at the hospital.

The nurses swabbed Matt’s nose so a sample could be sent to the lab for analysis. From what we are told the sample sits in a petri dish and is monitored over a period of a few days to see if any bacteria grows on it. If there’s an infection, bacteria will appear after a few days.

We were hoping our stay would only be a night or two but ended up being a total of four nights. Doctors wanted to monitor his fever, find better ways to get him the nutrition he needs from not being able to eat solid foods, get him some more blood, and monitor the bacteria sample for a possible infection. Over that time his fever subsided and dropped back to normal ranges. Matt also received several more bags of platelets and blood which got his energy levels back up. To help with nutrition the doctors had Matt drink some Ensure which is mainly liquid nutrition. Apparently drinking one bottle is the equivalent of having one meal. So it gives him the nutrition he needs but it’s easier going down.

By Monday late afternoon Matt was looking a lot better than when he arrived on Friday. We had gotten the all clear from the doctor to be discharged however Matt had a 7:30AM MRI back at the hospital today so we decided to just ride it out another night. On the upside I too lost a few pounds while having to resort to cafeteria food for my nutrition.

Speaking of the cafeteria, if you’re wondering what the picture is attached to the post, it’s a photo of the inside of the hospital cafeteria. If you look at the ceiling you’ll notice something interesting. 200 or so cameras attached to the ceiling tiles. The cafeteria is self service. Put your credit card in the slot when entering, walk around, pick up whatever you like and walk out without seeing a cashier. The 200 cameras are tracking your every move and every item you pick up or put back down. It’s a technology developed by Amazon called Just Walk Out. No need to staff the cafeteria, and it can remain open 24/7/365. It’s creepy and cool at the same time.

What happened with the bacteria culture? Nothing ever grew so no infection which is a good thing. The doctors say this happens often where a fever spikes but for reasons unknown. My guess is that it was just a perfect storm of radiation after effects plus more chemo being given to a body that was still trying to recover from the last round.

Looking ahead, Matt has CT/PET scans on Thursday followed by a hearing test and Echocardiogram on Friday to round out the week.

Finally, after spending four nights at the hospital I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s a real irony at hospitals in general. Matt’s told by the staff to make sure to get plenty of good sleep while staying at the hospital. Yet throughout the night the machines beep loudly when medications are done, nurses and techs are in and out at all hours taking his vitals and blood samples, random messages blare over the loudspeakers, loud chattering out in the hallways, and doors slam at nearby rooms.

It’s why there really is no place like home.