I had been woken up for my usual 2:30am blood draw, check on vital signs and a half-hour IV antibiotic feed. The routine after this would have been to sleep until 7:30am and then get ready for the day.
But today I was woken up again by two nurses at 6:00am, and I knew something was wrong. Apparently, my platelet count had fallen below the safe threshold and I had 'spiked' a fever of 100.3. Anything over 100.4 and it's ER time ..
So they hooked me up to my IV pole again to feed me the platelets and followed this with an additional dose of IV antibiotics.
Within the hour my fever had stopped, but they needed to do blood cultures from the PICC line and directly from my vein (and I began to feel like the pin cushion again).
Another draw of blood was taken and my platelets had risen from 9 to 33 (A healthy person person would have >300), but the doctors were happy.
The rest of the day was quiet, until my buddy Bryan and his wife Ann [Bryan-Ann Hinkle ] visited. We chatted and laughed, and that lifted me for the rest of the day.
I reflected on the mini-drama of this morning, and what impresses me most about Dr Burt and his team is that there are NEVER any dramas. If there is a 'perceived' problem, they assess the situation and deal with it. If plan A doesn't work, there's always a plan B.
So I think that moving on, I have to be calm and collected in ALL situations and have a plan to deal with whatever life has to throw at me ... just like Dr Burt and his team.
My PCT for the evening was Georgia. She liked the hat, and said I looked so good in it that she wanted to take me home.
Although all the nurses and PCT's were absolutely brilliant, Georgia's larger than life personality really made her stand out.
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