Mold????

So today the Medical Team reported the results of the CT scans and that they continue to be weary of the fevers Florence is having. With one scan showing that there are signs of a sinus infection and the other scans of her lungs showing no change in the spots she has had for a week or so and considering the antibiotics she is getting and after talking with the ENT docs and consulting with the docs specializing in Communicable Diseases in Leukemia Patients, the overall consensus is that there must be ‘a fungus among us’. That’s right folks a gang of rotten little plants sitting there where its nice and warm and moist just havin’ a good ol’ time kicking back, multiplying, and causing fever spikes. (Or it could be a Mold, but that didn't sound as fun.)

Little did we know what was coming but the day nurses knew and they work hard to get things rolling early. So starting at 2100 (9pm for normal people) they brought out the Big Gun. Throw out that fungicidal pill, we be goin’ IV. It also meant this stuff may not play well with other body parts, like your kidneys.

Therefore, tonight’s (early, right) IV entertainment agenda will consist of: First a 25cc flush with D5W (sugar water) to be followed by a little 50cc bag of the Big Gun ran in over 30 minutes just to see if that stirs up any uncontrollable shivering. Sounds fun so far. That will be followed by another 50cc bag of D5W (sugar water) to clear the lines. Then it’s a 500cc infusion with NaCl (salt water) over one hour just to get those kidneys primed. Then another 50cc bag of D5W (sugar water) to flush the lines plus a bag of unknown quantity of the Big Gun to be ran in over 4 hours. Then and only then will another 50cc bag of D5W (sugar water) be ran in to flush the lines clear before the last 500cc of NaCl (salt water) will be infused over another hour to clear out any Big Gun left in Florence’s kidneys.

Oh yah, I almost forgot the 200cc bag of antibiotics also running in over an hour at the same time on pump #3 and the NaCl (salt water) continues to runs at 75cc per hour when not running at 500cc. Silly me…..

Now in between all this I’m sure that Florence’s bladder (remember the preloaded kidneys) will decide it wants to mix it up too. So she will be up going to the little girls room I’m guessing more than once. And, with all these bag changes there is the customary prelude of pump beeping and a nurse coming in to change each bag and reset the pumps infusion rates (beep, beep, beep, beep… beep).

So this is starting to sound like one of those math word problems from middle school and I’m sure someone out there is trying to figure how many times a nurse will come into the room and at what frequency and what Florence’s kidney output will be using the inverse coefficient of the fluid infusion rate. (huh) But lets face it, what really matters is …… there ain’t gona be any sleeping happen here tonight. (And, I don’t mean that in a good way……..)

So, Good night (right) for now……
Larry