Ever had a zit surgically removed? Well I have.
About five days ago I developed a pimple at the base of my neck, right above the sternum. Well a good part of this week my blood counts have been low, so rather than healing the zit had become raised and inflamed.
The doctors were concerned the spot had become infected and might be a source of my fever. The doctors initially thought a biopsy would be a good test but my platelets were to low to consider doing in my room. So, they decided the best thing to do would be to take me to the Operating Room, put me under, insert a breathing tube, put me on a ventilator, open the area and clean the area, then pack it with gauze, tape it, remove the breathing tube and then bring me back to consciousness.
And that is just what they did this morning. They surgically removed my zit.
And they are testing everything they cleaned out of there for various infections.
And I got to take another trip to the Main Building. Woohoo!
Hi Michael,
Kathy ran a fever constantly while in the hospital and it usually spiked around 4:00 a.m. They kept giving her bags of antibiotics since they did not know what she had and finally put her on steroids. They finally decided that she was having the “ATRA Syndrome.” The steroids were able to keep this in check but it kept her in the hospital an extra week. The zit thing must be pretty common. Kathy had something under her arm that led to a fever the second time she was admitted to the hospital. The doctors watched it for several days and finally decided to lance it. We found that when your count is down everthing becomes a big problem.
We had a scare last Thursday. I came home early from work and Kathy met me at the door. She said she was running a fever of 100.9 so she called the clinic. We were told to come down and they checked her blood and did several chest x-rays. Nothing was found. Her oncologist did not put her on anything but said to keep an eye on it. By next morning her temp. was fine and all was ok. We have discovered that this seems to be an ongoing thing but you appreciate each good day when you have them. I hope you will be doing better shortly. God bless and good luck.
Terry
Terry:
My protocol is similar with one exception. When they started me on the ATRA they also started me on a steroid. I was on the steroid for 14 days then taken off. The steroid was administered to avert the “ATRA Syndrome”.
I am also on a list of antibiotics that runs pages in my chart.
Well in spite of surgery, my counts were up today and its been good day.