To know what you're up against
This is half the battle. You have to know what you're facing before you can properly face it.
Now we know. Tyler has a staph infection, and luckily it is sensitive to Vancomycin and Linezolid. We are trying the Vancomycin first, but because he showed signs of infection just one day after he finished the Vanc the last time - it may not work. We'll see, we'll do another 10-day course of it and go from there. Of course, if his fevers hit the 100.1 or up level and stay there, they will add the Linezodil or Rocefan to it.
He has started having fevers of 99.5 to 99.8, but so far he is managing to break them every night and sweat them out. Then his body temperature usually drops to 96 and we have to warm him up with his hat and an extra blanket so he can stop shivering. Although the fevers are back, he still seems much happier and is enjoying his music again.
We are having a strange problem with his line, it is difficult to push the saline through it and sometimes the antibiotic isn't getting through in the right amount of time. He may need to have some TPA (anti-clotting agent) run through his port. We have tried changing the access needle and are still having the same difficulty.
I am glad I have a great book to read, because it looks like another clinic day tomorrow.
Today's labs: (great)
WBC 7.0
ANC 5.1
Platelets 154
Hematocrit 26.6 (watching this)
*****
On a more personal note, I'd like to pick your brains about something. I am wondering how you deal with stress. Or maybe I mean tension and worrying. I tend to fret about things even though I know it doesn't do any good.
I'd love some suggestions for things to do when I start feeling the fretting coming on. Leaving my house isn't usually an option - at least, not right now. (Although I did get to sneak out to Target today and get some things for the yard).
It used to be that I would knit or quilt to keep my hands busy and my mind off of things. That's not really cutting it right now. Lately, I've started weeding - I'm sure the neighbors are glad about that one, but it's difficult to do unless there's another adult here to be inside with Ty.
So let me have it, any great indoor things to do for stress relief?
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Ty's Medical Story
5 comments:
Hmm. . .I usually either pound out my stress on the piano or pop in an exercise video. Or curl up with a good book and a bag of chocolates.
I hope the infection can be controlled without too many drastic measures.
Hang in there!
i don't do too well with stress. i usually forget to eat. but i do like to clean my house to help clear the head (which is important for me) before i can hear any answers.
i'm echoing montse: hang in there.
I think I'll just have to pick up the knitting again - it's hard to eat if both your hands are busy.
Unfortunately, I usually turn to M&Ms or some similar thing to keep my hands and mind busy - unless I'm doing something mindless already :)
You mean aside from eating?
If you can manage it, I have been really impressed with the Holosync CDs. They de-stress me in just a few minutes, but I have a hard time finding 30-60 minutes to listen to the whole thing (which you're supposed to do).
Talk about coming late to the party! I just found your blog by following your link from Shannon's "Works for me" tips. I got interested and started reading your archives--now I'm sucked in! (And...hee hee, when I first got to your blog I thought--that picture looks like it was taken along the Wasatch Front! And then I read about Huntsman Cancer Center and Primary Children's, and ah ha! Don't worry, I'm not a stalker, I just live in Spanish Fork and spend a good amount of time with my baby boy at Primary's, too.)
So, to the point, what do I do when I am starting to stress..I redecorate. In my head, alas, because money is tight and children are small. But I think of things I've seen in magazines and I decide how I would do them cheaply and in no time I've spent an hour redecorating my house...imaginarily.
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