April 17

Hi All!!!
We checked into City of Hope yesterday and had blood drawn, then saw my doctor, and then had my chemo treatment. We are staying at what they call the Villages, which are like motel rooms with kitchenettes. They are very nice and are on the campus of the hospital, but close enough to walk to the clinic or to the hospital. We are supposed to stay there until Saturday when I am scheduled to go into the hospital. My doctor was a little concerned that I had a fever last week, so he is giving me more antibiotics. He also had them take more blood cultures, which will show if anything is growing in my blood that shouldn't be. This will take about 2 days for the results. He says if I still have something there, I will have to go into the hospital and will also have to have my Hickman catheter removed until they get rid of whatever's in the blood with antibiotics. He said that putting the new catheter in when they weren't sure that my blood was clean can cause the infection to come back. He says that some of the infection might have gotten into the new catheter and still be there (he calls it seeding), so they might be able to clean my blood but the infected catheter will re-infect me if they don't take it out. I'm sure not looking forward to that because of all the soreness I still have from the surgery on Friday. Please pray that my blood is clean of this infection. I would like to stay in the Villages and not have to go thru another surgery!!! I've gotten two doses of chemo so far (one Monday, one Tuesday) and all is well, I haven't had any side effects which is good news. They charge for any internet time in the Villages if you use your own computer, but they have a computer room with computers for us to use and that is what I am on right now. I will still try to blog everyday. God bless you all.
Ernie