We thought, after two rounds of chemo with no fevers, that we might avoid unexpected hospital stays for the rest of chemo.  Nope.  On Tuesday night, after a low-energy day, Alexander showed signs of a fever coming on.  We got readings just below the 100.4 degree threshold and hoped his temp would come down overnight.  At 11:30 pm, he was sleeping fitfully, and I checked his temperature.  It was 102.  We had no choice: I packed our bags quickly and took him to the hospital.  The ED was packed.  I had called ahead, but I was nevertheless concerned that we would have to wait a long time.  Thankfully, we got an isolation room after a short wait.  He was so very tired and cranky at being poked and prodded.  We spent 18 long hours in the ED before a bed came open on the oncology floor.  

Fortunately, the medical news is good.  His fever is gone; his blood culture does not show anything growing (that is, no bacterial infection); he’s eating and drinking well.  His counts are low, but that is expected, and he has once again gotten blood and platelet transfusions.  Maybe most importantly, he is not in any discomfort—he feels quite well enough to play MarioKart, and he’s getting better at it!

He will get the chemo infusion today he would have gotten yesterday if this hadn’t happened, but that is no big deal.  We are now just waiting to see his counts start to rise and his temperature stay down before we can go home.  We are hopeful that we will be home for Christmas—and not only in our dreams.