Hospital: Day #7

Well, things are changing one hour to the next. Last night, Mollie's fever was alarmingly high and would not come down with Tylenol and Motrin. However, around 3:45am it did start coming down to normal (see Matt's comments on the post from yesterday, below). It stayed down until about 11:30 am and then spiked again- Mollie was not looking well- her lips turned blue and she had uncontrollable shivering. She's perked up a little now.

Her labs came back this morning and her WBC count is up a little and her ANC is 330. So that is a good bit of news. They also did a CRP test, to determine whether she was having an acute inflammatory response and it came back a little elevated, but not alarmingly so. The medical team is leaning toward a viral cause for the fevers and they have moved us into an isolation room because they are testing for flu and starting Tamiflu. Switching antibiotics again (stop clinda, back to vancomycin).

More waiting and looking for that ANC to come up. We're doing our best to keep her spirits up and her body strong.

Mollie did a super duper job with her neupogen shot and nasal aspirate today. She was really scared of both and she was also still febrile and feeling terrible. The nasal aspirate involved sticking a tube down her nose to suck out a sample to analyze for flu. The respiratory therapist who did it was wonderful and quick and it was over before we knew it.

A lot of people are asking what to send Mollie- right now she's really into books, stickers, any kind of arts and crafts projects. She also loves getting clothes for her baby dolls and build-a-bear and new games for her Leapster. Today we'll "redecorate" since we moved rooms and we're hoping Ms. Kym will stop by with some projects sometime when Mollie is not febrile!

Update @ 4:30 pm: Mollie spiked another fever that has just come down a little and she has perked up a lot! She actually let me wash her hair (finally!) She's making flower fairies and just ate a turkey sandwich, a bag of chips, and some Halloween candy. Dr. V just came in and said that her chest x-ray earlier today showed that she had some fluid in the lower lobe of her left lung, but the rest of her chest is very clear and her oxygen saturation is 100%. This finding is consistent with a virus (flu), so he thinks the Tamiflu and increasing counts will get this to resolve. He also said this may explain the high fevers and her antibiotic coverage is appropriate for this situation. He's hoping her ANC will be over 1000 within 3 days.

Mollie finally looked at her video postcard from her cousin William- she loved it! So if you want to send a video message, just e mail me: sarahdmertz at yahoo dot com

Okay, so Mollie's flu test just came back positive. Most likely it is the novel flu (just given the way the flu season is going). Honestly, it's scary, but I actually feel more relieved that we know what is causing the fevers and we are treating it the way we should. Dr. J thinks that she may have acquired the flu since she's been in the hospital and that she actually had sinusitis or a bacterial infection when we came in to the ER last Tues.

I think Mollie had a good day today- she looks better than she did yesterday, in my opinion. She spiked another fever tonight; hopefully it will come down before too long and she will be able to rest a bit better tonight. She's a fighter. We're counting on that and some neupogen and Tamiflu to help her kick butt on the flu. And cancer.