FIRST THINGS... FIRST

Well, Christmas was peaceful. Our family is humbled and grateful to be able to celebrate yet another Christmas together. Kristin was able to spend her winter break with us and left for P-Town just in time for New Years. Thank you AJ for letting her ride back with you.

Next...I am packing a suitcase, tidying up the house, and finishing laundry to fly out to Salt Lake as we speak. Kristin was admitted for neutropenia and a possible secondary infection. I know....I was shocked when they called and said she was neutropenic. We had talked a few times today. This morning she said she had a large, red bump on her shoulder; yep, call it what it is, a zit, or so we thought... Later in the afternoon she said she was feeling feverish. Well, you know the drill. Take the temp, call it in and see what they say. I know what they will say....You need to be checked. By this point she is thinking she just has a spider bite, but it had grown to the size of a silver dollar. I said," I don't know that a spider bite contributes to being febrile." She was told to come in when she could, but it isn't "urgent." Well, probably not, but we encouraged her to go sooner than later. Her Grandfather and Claudia picked her up and took her to the ER. During this short time her temp quickly and steadily climbed and showed no signs of backing down. Labs were drawn and her WBC was a whopping .5, not good, and her neutrophil count was a big O, not good either. Consequently, she has been admitted. They did start her on an antiobiotic, whose name eludes my fading memory at the moment, to treat the "thing" on her shoulder. That did not go too well as she had an allergic reaction which called for a healthy dose of benadryl. Right now she is REM-ing in benadryl land per nurse Becky.

All her other counts are stable and that is good news. I am hoping that this is just a consequence from uping her oral chemo to 100%. She just cannot tolerate it. I thought we have been through this before, more than once.! Thank heavens she has recovered from pneumonia. That thought makes me shudder!

That aside, I am grateful that we are dealing with neutropenia and not"you know what." I'll try to update when I have something to update about.


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