Short Version: Brace started coughing about 3 days ago and last night he had a fever of 100.5 and woke up every two hours. So here we are in the hospital at Hoag Newport with a White Blood Cell count of .08. It is supposed to be between 4 and 10 so that is lower than even when we were here at Christmas.
and the long version....
Friday: I was making my smoothie and getting ready to exercise and Linda Crandall asked when would be a good time to bring over some celery soup. I said now or after 10:45am and boom she was at my door. :) I've ate that soup lunch and dinner for two days. It was excellent. No milk and she used potatoes to thicken it. I've got to get that recipe from her and my other neighbor Amanda Morrell. My mom made a lot of good things but never really made celery soup. Thank you Linda. If I haven't told you I have great neighbors near Chimney Rock Circle.
Brace and I watched some of the behind the scene videos for "The Chosen". That is the best show ever. Once you finish episode 4 you are hooked. (Episode 1 and 2 are beautiful but a little intense and dark.) . The show basically tries to accurately portray the 4 gospels but they develop the back story behind the apostles before they were called. So powerful. I can't wait for season 2.
Saturday: Jon Love flew in yesterday from Utah to visit Brace. He came at 9am to be trained so I could go visit my brother in Highland and my sister who was visiting from Northern California. So in between exercising and showering Brace was ready for food and meds. That meant that when Jon arrived to be trained on giving Brace his meds I was still in the shower. Rob and Rachel Peck showed up to visit with Jon. (Jon is staying at Rob's house) . Rob and Rachel were a surprise to me, but they told Brace and with chemo brain he remembers little and tells me nothing. :) After training Jon and then Rob and Rachel visiting for a little while Brace was wiped out and needed a nap. They asked if they could do anything. I had them put postage and return addresses on 200 cards. They also folded a flag that I wanted to use for a memorial for Boyd Lake, Brace's father. AND they unfolded the new chairs that came and put them upstairs. Both Brace and I hadn't seen Rachel in a long time so that was a real treat. After Brace had a nap I think they had another nice visit. Thank you Jon, Rob and Rachel!
With Jon in charge of pain meds, I left to visit my brother David in Highland with my two sisters. They have a nice lady that comes to do his hair twice a month and he looked great. I am a sucker for gray hair though. He's blind so I'm not sure he knows that he has gray hair. LOL After David was wiped out from talking to us, we went to Chic-fil-a. Lynda loves their app that allows you to sit at your table, order your food and they deliver it to your table. I love a good app so I had to download my own and try it out. If you don't know, Chic-fil-a has great salads. Thanks to Jon I was able to have a fun sisters day out and visit David. (You did a great job Jon)
That night I made a quick trip to Walmart to pick up so more Lidocaine. I tried to get Magic Mouthwash (both Lidocaine and magic mouthwash are for throat pain) at the compound pharmacy but they close at 2pm on Saturday. Bummer.
At night Brace woke up every 1 or 2 hours. He just felt awful. I just couldn't give him enough pain meds to address his pain. :( And the two worry points.... Fever 100.5 that I treated with lots of Tylenol and he had a worsening cough. I did not want to go to the hospital in the middle of the night.
Sunday: Brace woke about 9:45am in the morning after last waking up for pain meds at 6:30am. It allowed me to shower and exercise. I texted Dr. Carroll who is usually very responsive and just didn't hear anything. I was hoping for an alternative to go to the hospital. So at 1pm, Corey Elggren and Dylan Harps came to give Brace and I the sacrament. (We have so many great young men in our congregation) Then while I packed my luggage for all of Brace's stuff to go the hospital Kati Blackledge came over to chat. I didn't realize it but she said she lived in Moreno Valley in my sister's stake when my sister lost her only boy (6 years old) in a tragic car accident many years ago.
We finally left around 3:15pm for Newport Hoag. I go and bring everything because I know that they will admit him. When we arrived the emergency waiting rooms was swarming with about 30 people. Eeek.... Maybe this wasn't a good idea?
Luckily you say chemo and fever and they take you in pretty quick. Brace was too weak to stand so we got a wheelchair to take him in. That helps too. :) They put him through triage and took his blood and vitals. Blood pressure low, heartbeat fast and small fever. Then 3 minutes later they took us into room 1A. It is twice as big as the room we loved at the later part of our Christmas stay. There's room for three chairs and they were playing football. 49er's beat the socks off of Green Bay Packers. 49er's are off to the Super Bowl.
Brace was joking we would probably be in the hospital for New Year's because we were in the hospital Thanksgiving and Christmas. Don't worry we will be here for Martin Luther King Holiday. I hope we skip Valentine's Day.....
ANC: 500's (less than a 1000 is neutropenic) 200's is severe neutropenic
White blood cells: .8 (it should be between 4.5 and 8.5 so less than 1 is not good.
Temperature: 100.7 at 10:00pm
They are treating him with two heavy antibiotics. The last bag will be done in about an hour. We just met our Hospital Internist. We really like Dr. Upal. She informed Dr. Carroll that we are here so I'm sure he will be here tomorrow to say hello.
At 7:30pm, Jon Love, Rob and Kim Peck came to visit us at the hospital. Brace asked them to bring reese's peanut butter cups and he was able to take a bite. That was his entertainment food of the day. James Swift (my son-in-law) says that he is like a pregnant woman with cravings but he can't eat the food when you get it. The Cypress boys are so fun when they get together. They almost finish each other's sentences quoting movies and inside jokes. Kim and I call their humor similar to 15-year-old boys. Those of you that know Brace, this is not a surprise.
Then transport came and took us to 8th floor which is the chemo floor. That is where we were at Christmas. We are in one of the little rooms without a shower but I'm not in crisis about it because we don't need room for Christmas celebration like before.
So we get to the room and who is there, but the nurse that Brace had a fight with last time. Brace was really patient with her and with a lot of time I was able to explain all of his meds and timing for each of them. (This is my least favorite part of the process.) She was really trying to keep us happy because she remembered last time. :)
They didn't get him Zofran soon enough so with his coughing it made him throw up at about 10:50pm. If I haven't explained his throwing up, it is violent and it usually lasts about 10 minutes. He just announced at 12:01am that he feels like he recovered for throwing up since they gave him zofran and I gave him his pain meds. In the hospital on the weekend, they think everything works in the morning. They wanted to change his patch and then start it at 10:30pm and I said if you change his patch to 10:30pm then from then on I have to wake him up to change his patch. After me explaining this three times she finally understood and said we could wait to start the new patch tomorrow. :) Small miracles....
I'm feeling fine being here because I know what to expect. This is exactly what we did at Christmas. Brace is feeling fine because let me give me his pain meds until we get to our room. (I didn't sneak them this time) I think all that liquid in the IV is good for him. Brace is now singing "The King of Love, My Shepherd Is" while watching TV. I'm thinking at some point he will be ready to go to sleep. One can only hope..... They just came in to give him the next bag of antibiotics.
and the long version....
Friday: I was making my smoothie and getting ready to exercise and Linda Crandall asked when would be a good time to bring over some celery soup. I said now or after 10:45am and boom she was at my door. :) I've ate that soup lunch and dinner for two days. It was excellent. No milk and she used potatoes to thicken it. I've got to get that recipe from her and my other neighbor Amanda Morrell. My mom made a lot of good things but never really made celery soup. Thank you Linda. If I haven't told you I have great neighbors near Chimney Rock Circle.
Brace and I watched some of the behind the scene videos for "The Chosen". That is the best show ever. Once you finish episode 4 you are hooked. (Episode 1 and 2 are beautiful but a little intense and dark.) . The show basically tries to accurately portray the 4 gospels but they develop the back story behind the apostles before they were called. So powerful. I can't wait for season 2.
Saturday: Jon Love flew in yesterday from Utah to visit Brace. He came at 9am to be trained so I could go visit my brother in Highland and my sister who was visiting from Northern California. So in between exercising and showering Brace was ready for food and meds. That meant that when Jon arrived to be trained on giving Brace his meds I was still in the shower. Rob and Rachel Peck showed up to visit with Jon. (Jon is staying at Rob's house) . Rob and Rachel were a surprise to me, but they told Brace and with chemo brain he remembers little and tells me nothing. :) After training Jon and then Rob and Rachel visiting for a little while Brace was wiped out and needed a nap. They asked if they could do anything. I had them put postage and return addresses on 200 cards. They also folded a flag that I wanted to use for a memorial for Boyd Lake, Brace's father. AND they unfolded the new chairs that came and put them upstairs. Both Brace and I hadn't seen Rachel in a long time so that was a real treat. After Brace had a nap I think they had another nice visit. Thank you Jon, Rob and Rachel!
With Jon in charge of pain meds, I left to visit my brother David in Highland with my two sisters. They have a nice lady that comes to do his hair twice a month and he looked great. I am a sucker for gray hair though. He's blind so I'm not sure he knows that he has gray hair. LOL After David was wiped out from talking to us, we went to Chic-fil-a. Lynda loves their app that allows you to sit at your table, order your food and they deliver it to your table. I love a good app so I had to download my own and try it out. If you don't know, Chic-fil-a has great salads. Thanks to Jon I was able to have a fun sisters day out and visit David. (You did a great job Jon)
That night I made a quick trip to Walmart to pick up so more Lidocaine. I tried to get Magic Mouthwash (both Lidocaine and magic mouthwash are for throat pain) at the compound pharmacy but they close at 2pm on Saturday. Bummer.
At night Brace woke up every 1 or 2 hours. He just felt awful. I just couldn't give him enough pain meds to address his pain. :( And the two worry points.... Fever 100.5 that I treated with lots of Tylenol and he had a worsening cough. I did not want to go to the hospital in the middle of the night.
Sunday: Brace woke about 9:45am in the morning after last waking up for pain meds at 6:30am. It allowed me to shower and exercise. I texted Dr. Carroll who is usually very responsive and just didn't hear anything. I was hoping for an alternative to go to the hospital. So at 1pm, Corey Elggren and Dylan Harps came to give Brace and I the sacrament. (We have so many great young men in our congregation) Then while I packed my luggage for all of Brace's stuff to go the hospital Kati Blackledge came over to chat. I didn't realize it but she said she lived in Moreno Valley in my sister's stake when my sister lost her only boy (6 years old) in a tragic car accident many years ago.
We finally left around 3:15pm for Newport Hoag. I go and bring everything because I know that they will admit him. When we arrived the emergency waiting rooms was swarming with about 30 people. Eeek.... Maybe this wasn't a good idea?
Luckily you say chemo and fever and they take you in pretty quick. Brace was too weak to stand so we got a wheelchair to take him in. That helps too. :) They put him through triage and took his blood and vitals. Blood pressure low, heartbeat fast and small fever. Then 3 minutes later they took us into room 1A. It is twice as big as the room we loved at the later part of our Christmas stay. There's room for three chairs and they were playing football. 49er's beat the socks off of Green Bay Packers. 49er's are off to the Super Bowl.
Brace was joking we would probably be in the hospital for New Year's because we were in the hospital Thanksgiving and Christmas. Don't worry we will be here for Martin Luther King Holiday. I hope we skip Valentine's Day.....
ANC: 500's (less than a 1000 is neutropenic) 200's is severe neutropenic
White blood cells: .8 (it should be between 4.5 and 8.5 so less than 1 is not good.
Temperature: 100.7 at 10:00pm
They are treating him with two heavy antibiotics. The last bag will be done in about an hour. We just met our Hospital Internist. We really like Dr. Upal. She informed Dr. Carroll that we are here so I'm sure he will be here tomorrow to say hello.
At 7:30pm, Jon Love, Rob and Kim Peck came to visit us at the hospital. Brace asked them to bring reese's peanut butter cups and he was able to take a bite. That was his entertainment food of the day. James Swift (my son-in-law) says that he is like a pregnant woman with cravings but he can't eat the food when you get it. The Cypress boys are so fun when they get together. They almost finish each other's sentences quoting movies and inside jokes. Kim and I call their humor similar to 15-year-old boys. Those of you that know Brace, this is not a surprise.
Then transport came and took us to 8th floor which is the chemo floor. That is where we were at Christmas. We are in one of the little rooms without a shower but I'm not in crisis about it because we don't need room for Christmas celebration like before.
So we get to the room and who is there, but the nurse that Brace had a fight with last time. Brace was really patient with her and with a lot of time I was able to explain all of his meds and timing for each of them. (This is my least favorite part of the process.) She was really trying to keep us happy because she remembered last time. :)
They didn't get him Zofran soon enough so with his coughing it made him throw up at about 10:50pm. If I haven't explained his throwing up, it is violent and it usually lasts about 10 minutes. He just announced at 12:01am that he feels like he recovered for throwing up since they gave him zofran and I gave him his pain meds. In the hospital on the weekend, they think everything works in the morning. They wanted to change his patch and then start it at 10:30pm and I said if you change his patch to 10:30pm then from then on I have to wake him up to change his patch. After me explaining this three times she finally understood and said we could wait to start the new patch tomorrow. :) Small miracles....
I'm feeling fine being here because I know what to expect. This is exactly what we did at Christmas. Brace is feeling fine because let me give me his pain meds until we get to our room. (I didn't sneak them this time) I think all that liquid in the IV is good for him. Brace is now singing "The King of Love, My Shepherd Is" while watching TV. I'm thinking at some point he will be ready to go to sleep. One can only hope..... They just came in to give him the next bag of antibiotics.
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