Infection Rejection

We just rolled in the driveway and home never looked so good.  We want to send a "shout out" to my sister for her wonderful hospitality and the chicken & dumplings.  Thank you!

Here is the news.  Denny's port was removed.  It was infected and there was a lot of fluid in the cavity. The medical personnel were VERY disgusted with Vanderbilt.  The comment was: "We treat people here for things like this; even if we didn't put the port in.  You can't leave someone in this condition.  He could have gotten septic.  You got here just in time."

There were 2 new terms.  I had to look them up but I could tell it wasn't good.  The words were "Sepsis" and "Bacteremia". This is what they meant by "septic".

SEPSIS: Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening complication of an infection. Sepsis occurs when chemicals released into the bloodstream to fight the infection trigger inflammation throughout the body. This inflammation can trigger a cascade of changes that can damage multiple organ systems, causing them to fail. **

BACTEREMIA:"Blood poisoning" is not a medical term. But as the term is usually used, it refers to the presence of bacteria in the blood (bacteremia) — and not a poisonous substance in the blood. However, bacteremia is a serious illness and requires prompt medical attention. **

** Source: Mayo Clinic Website: www.mayoclinic.com

About an hour down the road, Denny said he was already feeling better.  He has a prescription for a heavy duty antibiotic.  Now, he just has to get the area completely healed.  They are pretty sure it will not be healed in time for the May 20th chemo treatment.  Therefore, at 8am on May 20th, he will have a PICC line inserted into one of the bigger veins in his upper arm.  The chemo for the second treatment will be handled through this.  By the 3rd treatment, they will probably re-install the port to use from that point onward.

The other good news is Denny has a new oncologist, Dr. Barbara Murphy, through The Vanderbilt Clinic who has agreed to take on his case to coordinate with St. Louis.  Dr. Adkin's (the St. Louis chemo doc) clinical assistant, Toni, has personally met Dr. Murphy and says Denny is in good hands.  There will be no problems coordinating treatment issues between these two docs.

Denny and I are looking forward to relaxing the rest of the evening.  On the way home, we discussed how good it was that we did not take the Vanderbilt surgeon's advice of "Let nature take its course."  Denny might now be fighting a life threatening infection along with cancer.  One battle is enough.

That is all for now.  As always, thanks for the love, prayers, and cards of encouragement.  He could not fight this battle without them.  Thanks for checking in...