Back in the Hospital - Fever

Sorry I didn't update sooner. I didn't have my laptop...

Leo was able to enjoy being at home for just under 2 days. Most of the time, he was in bed sleeping. He was feeling a bit warm and I was taking his temperature now and again and the highest one I got was 100.9. His discharge orders said to call the doctor immediately when his temp was over 101. Technically, it wasn't over 101, so I didn't call as I didn't have the heart to tell him he might have to be readmitted to the hospital. So Saturday afternoon, the home health care nurse came to our house to care for Leo's hickman line. As part of her process, she has to take his vitals. She took his temperature as 103.4. He did feel warm, but we're skeptical as to whether is was really that high. But given that reading, she wanted us to call the doctor immediately, which we did and of course, she wanted him to come into the hospital right away. We got to the hospital around 4pm and were admitted into the ER, where we stayed until about 11pm, when a room came available. They did some blood tests and found that his blood counts have dropped significantly and quickly. His WBC count on Thursday was 5.9 when he left. It has now dropped to 1.2. He needed both a platelet and blood transfusion as those counts were low too. They did an xray on his chest to see if there was an infection there, but there was not. They've done some blood cultures to check for other infections, but we won't know the results of those until maybe tomorrow or Tuesday. The doctors that came by today have suggested that possibly the stem cells from his mom (which is what was causing his counts to do so well in the past) are starting to expire and the cord blood cells need to take over at this point. So they said it's not unusual that his counts would drop. The hope is that they will start to climb again as the cord blood "learns" how to work in his system. But until that happens, they have to investigate any cause for infection possible, as his body cannot handle infection at this point. Since he's been admitted, his fever has been pretty consistent and have spiked one other time this evening to 102.3. So they are keeping a close eye on him.

Hopefully they will find something soon and he won't have to stay here much longer. I'm sure you can imagine that the girls were all very disappointed that their daddy had to leave again and it just breaks my heart to see them like that. Thanks to everyone that sent good wishes and welcome home vibes our way for the short time that he was there, but he is unfortunately here in the hospital again for an undefined period of time. I want to send a special thank you to all of Leo's co-workers at Mobil Travel Guide. They sent a beautiful Edible Arrangement of different fruits. Leo was not able to eat it, as he was still restricted from fresh fruits and vegetables, but he really enjoyed watching the girls (and me!) enjoying it in celebration of his homecoming! Thank you all so much! Updates to follow...