June 11th–14th — A Fever, A Virus, and Back to Base
After radiation on June 11th, things started off fine, but later that night we noticed Eli wasn't feeling well. He asked for some Tylenol and was acting like his head hurt. When we checked his temperature, he was running high 99s, close to 100. When your child has a PICC, the rule is clear — if your child hits 100.4 or higher, you go to the ER because of the risk of infection. We called home care, and they said it sounded more like an oncology question than something they could help with over the phone. So we decided to watch and wait, since he hadn't crossed that threshold yet.
Around 5:30 in the morning on June 12th, Eli woke up vomiting with a temperature between 102 and 103. That was enough. We loaded up and headed to the Liberty campus of Cincinnati Children's. After some time there and a round of antibiotics, the team gave us a choice — stay admitted or go home. We felt more comfortable at main campus, so we decided to leave. The thinking was that if something else happened, we would just head there.
His temperature kept climbing through the day. We alternated Tylenol and ibuprofen to try to keep it managed. But around 10 PM, his fever was back up to about 103, and he visibly was not doing well. When we finished giving him his antibiotic, the plunger from his PICC line got stuck in the downward position. That made the decision for us — it was too late to get a cap change done at home, so we packed up and headed to the base campus in Cincinnati.
A moment from the drive in that we did not expect — when we pulled up to the hospital, Eli actually got a little excited. It caught us off guard. He asked about Rachel, the nurse from his previous hospital stay, right away, which says everything about the impression she left on him. Even in the middle of all this, he remembered her.
The ER at base was expecting us. They were able to free the plunger by drawing blood through the line, which was a relief. While we were there, they did a respiratory swab on him. It came back positive for a para-influenza virus. They added broad-spectrum antibiotics on top of his current meds to give him the best chance at fighting it off. During our stay, Eli had a really hard time urinating, which was concerning for everyone on the team. We still do not have a clear answer on what is causing that, and his urine has had a very foul odor on top of it. Both are things we are watching closely.
We got admitted to the new oncology floor in the G building. It is a nice floor, just not what we are used to. One bright spot — Maryann, a nurse we really liked from Eli's previous stay, was there for day shift, and having a familiar face made a difference.
The 13th was more of the same. Antibiotics, fluids, monitoring, and trying to flush out whatever is behind the urination issue. Still no answers, but Eli has seemed to be moving in the right direction, and we are holding onto that.
Today, the 14th, the team feels pretty confident that Eli will be able to get his radiation treatment done tomorrow. The big question mark is whether the anesthesiologist is going to feel comfortable putting him under given the para-influenza. We are praying they feel confident that he will be okay and decide to move forward. We are also doing another urinalysis today — we had to put a collection bag on him to catch the urine, which he was not thrilled about, but it needs to be done. We should know more from those results soon.
As long as everything goes well, we are expecting to be outpatient today and get to go home.
We are home now, and for a little while things were looking up. Eli had been doing better, and it felt like we might be turning a corner. But his fever has come back, and with radiation scheduled for tomorrow, our anxiety is growing by the hour. Every time we check his temperature, we are holding our breath. We need him to be well enough to get through tomorrow, and right now we just do not know.
Please continue praying for our boy. Pray that his fever breaks and that he is able to get his treatment tomorrow. Pray that the anesthesiologist gives us the green light, and pray that nothing else gets in the way of him continuing to get the radiation he needs.
🩶🦁🧠 #RoaringForEli
