FEVER VLOG

Our first all video blog update, stay tuned as we finish it up tonight…

Hey Team #CalebTheSuperhero! I think Christina just gave a pretty big update on all we have been up to this past week at home. Well what she didn’t share was that Caleb and I had already left for the hospital as Caleb has another fever. While he is not neutropenic this time, his counts are still low so any fever is an immediate trip to the ER. So tonight Caleb and I thought we might do something a little different. We are going to video blog our way through the hospital visit and/or stay so everyone can get a feel for a night in the life of a child with cancer who gets a fever most of us would just sleep off.

Now let me say I am in no way very good at this and given we are in a hospital I have to be very careful when and where I am taking video, but with all that said here goes nothing…..

9:30pm….Christina comes out of Caleb’s room with the look on her face that I hate to see, followed by the words….Caleb feels warm. So we go get the thermometer and his first temp is 99.8. While this isn’t bad for a normal person it is borderline emergency for a child with Cancer.

9:45pm…check his temp again (under his arm), temp is now 100.1. So at this point we have to wake him up and take a temp under his tongue. Under tongue temp is 100.2. SO we strip off all his covers and make sure his fan is on. Don’t want any false readings.

9:50pm…packing for the likely hospital visit begins. I didn’t video the madness it is to get ready to head to the hospital which includes monitoring Caleb’s fever, packing myself, packing Caleb, getting snacks and drinks ready for the room, taking a quick shower and grabbing all the toys Caleb might like. That is about a 30 min process while Christina is getting Caleb ready to head in. Most of the time he tends to spike a fever later in the evening / night so it gets even harder. Tonight we also had to give him his chemo and all other meds before we left as well as call the on call oncologist to get a fast pass ready at the ER (don’t want to be sitting out with sick people as it could be very dangerous for him).

10:15pm…we load up in the car, get Caleb strapped in and back to sleep and off we go.

Alright, vlog entry 1 (we will keep adding to this post as the night progresses so check back often for more updates!)

10:20pm

11:26pm

11:29pm…still on our way to TGH

11:40pm….TGH Arrival

12:00 (midnight). After checking in we receive the fast pass to the back because we called the on call team to ensure they had everything ready. Caleb makes his first debut in this one!

12:36am..I couldn’t video Caleb getting his port accessed but that happened after the doc and nurse came in to check Caleb over from head to toe. We knew he would need labs drawn and potentially get some antibiotics through his port so we had already prepared his port for access before we left home. Caleb handled it perfectly and you will see his port in this video.

On top of his port, Caleb had to get a nose swab Dotel to check for any kind of viruses, etc., So he thought he could do it himself (in true Caleb fashion), so he gave it a try. He did good but didn’t go high enough so the nurse had to help. He didn’t scream or cry though, just sat there and handled it!

12:41am a new update on where we stand….waiting for results and getting loop from the Chemo….

1:00am….Caleb is wide awake and hungry so check out his snacks of choice this evening…

1:15am….Chest X-Ray time to be sure he doesn’t have anything settling in his chest.

1:35am…Antibiotics begin….and loopy chemo time! And a good night!

2:00am….let me introduce you to Caleb on Chemo (aka your drunk Saturday night friend)

2:30am…We receive news we have never heard ever! We get to go home! We do not have to stay the night or wait for cultures. We will go home with antibiotics, tylenol and instructions to watch the fever very closely, but for tonight we have received the best news ever, home bound without a hospital stay!!

2:40am…Learning what happens when we are discharged, the waiting game to get his port taken out and the anxiety it causes Caleb. He hates it but it doesn’t hurt too bad at least.

3:00am….time to take out buddy (unfortunately after waking Caleb up). It he did awesome!!

3:05am…we are free!!!

3:15am….THANK YOU! I hope you guys found some value in seeing how a fever ER visit works. Lucky for all of us, this time we didn’t have to be admitted!!!

3:49am….8 hours after the first notice of fever…bedtime…goodnight all!