Here we go again!

After a couple good days, Samuel is ......... can you guess what I'm going to say?? .......... having some setbacks. He had been doing so well! Dr. G. even used the "h" word (home) yesterday and thought we could aim for a discharge on Tuesday or Wednesday next week. Wow! That was exciting to hear! We'll have to wait and see what kind of impact (if any) today's issues will have.

I won’t bore you with all the details. The worst of it is that Samuel woke up this morning at 2 a.m. with a fever. Shortly thereafter, the nurses drew blood to start some cultures to see if a specific virus, fungus, or bacteria will grow. If something grows, it can be identified and the treatment can be targeted. Each culture bottle gets 5-10 milliliters of blood. They started six bottles this morning. I have lost track of how many times we have gone through this routine in the last 63 days. It is necessary, but unfortunate for Samuel, who is struggling with anemia. He doesn't have any red blood cells to spare.

At 7 a.m., he went downstairs for a chest x-ray to check for signs of pneumonia. Thankfully, his lungs look great!

The risk of waiting to treat the fever until the source can be identified is too great, so until a specific infectious agent can be identified, they will treat Samuel with broad spectrum antibiotics. He was started on two “big guns” this morning. I am grateful that we have these drugs to use when necessary, but it grieves my heart to think about the negative impact these antibiotics have on Samuel’s body.

Late this afternoon, Samuel had a series of sinus x-rays and we are waiting for the results. He has had a feeding tube in place for about 7 weeks now. It goes up his nose and down his throat. People with these types of tubes sometimes get sinus infections if the tube has been there a long time. I’m actually hoping that the problem is “only” a sinus infection. That is much better than some of the other possibilities.

The docs were going to pull out Samuel’s PICC line this morning as it is high on the list of infection suspects. With all the persuasive charm I could muster, I negotiated with Dr. D. to leave the PICC line in place until we could be certain that it is not a sinus infection. He agreed!! There will be untold misery and discomfort for Samuel if they have to take it out, replace it with a peripherial IV for a few days, and then put in a new PICC line.

Samuel says he is doing fine emotionally. He just feels awful physically. Both of us are exhausted. We didn’t get much sleep last night. Please pray that Samuel has the necessary reserves to fight yet another battle. His big enemies right now are fever, headache, and nausea. Thankfully, his pain is under control most of the time. Please pray that the source of the infection will be identified soon.