Day 23.....Hooray...and a glitch

Friday, October 12, 2012

First the HOORAY....

ANC 816

The doctors are so happy and cannot believe that he is already over 500.  You know our Dillon cannot do anything "as expected"

Okay...now the glitch.....

The fevers continue and we think we have an explanation.

The fever most likely began as a response to the abscess...which is much better but will take several weeks to heal completely because it got quite large and quite deep. It is not looking infected on the surface and it is much less painful......yet the fever continues.

The fever is now not as high and it does respond to Tylenol, which it did not do before...so it is still present but it is different.

Yesterday there was a lab result that might explain this...

Dillon has HHV6 (human herpes virus 6...there are 8 or 9 different herpes virus including the ones that causes cold sores, mononucleosis, chickenpox).  We all have this virus in our bodies.  Most of us got it as children and it is an illness called roseola, which is a red rash (usually on the face) followed by a high fever that lasts for about a week.  We all recover but herpes viruses sit dormant in the body for a lifetime.  The nonexistent immune system allows this type of virus to rear its head....it begins replicating and causes symptoms similar to the original illness.  Dillon has red cheeks and the fever continues.  He has 50,000 copies of this virus in his system right now.  The good news....it is treatable and will most likely resolve the fever issues.  The bad news it that the treatment medication is hard on the kidneys and the way they help "insulate" the kidneys is by giving 400 cc of fluid before and after the medication is given (right now it is given twice a day starting last night).  Soooooo the medication can tax the kidneys and as Dillon's kidneys are just starting to function normally again, the extra fluid is also taxing on the kidneys.....so once again, very close monitoring.  One of the side effects of this medication...NAUSEA of course.  They say it takes about a week to clear this virus out of the blood stream and then they continue the medication for another week after that. It is yet to be determined if this will delay our discharge further but next weekend is likely NOT happening, even if his ANC remains on the rise.  Time shall tell, as usual.

One other thing is happening, which is peeling skin.  We were told about this.  Some kids actually turn a dark brown color after radiation and then their skin peels, similar to a sunburn type peeling.  Dillon became discolored (not really brown, more of a purplish red) in some areas of his body but not others....but the peeling has begun.  His hands are peeling and yesterday he worked very patiently to get a huge piece of skin off all in one piece...hahahaha...just like an 11-year-old boy to try to gross the nurse out with this huge hunk of skin!!

Onward and upward....