Just when Tony had had his final infusion of docetaxel and we were looking forward to getting back to normality, he had to be rushed to spend Easter weekend back in hospital. He had had a slight sniffle and hoarse throat, but felt fine until early on Saturday morning (Day 10 since the infusion, when his immune system was at its weakest). He found he had a temperature of 38.5, which is over the red-alert level. He called the cancer ward, who told him to come in to A&E, where he was treated as an urgent case. Blood tests showed his white cell count was 0.2 (x100) which is dangerously low, so he was kept in hospital and given intravenous antibiotics for 2 days, followed by some in tablet form. They did further blood tests, chest x-ray, ECG, tests of various body fluids....We were impressed with the thoroughness of his care, coming as it did over a holiday weekend. He also had his own room and ensuite, to keep him isolated from other's germs, and he was well looked after (apart from the food!).
By Monday afternoon Tony was very keen to get discharged, as we had my brothers funeral to go to on Tuesday (yes, this has been an Easter I'd rather forget!). A blood test showed the WBC count was up to 1.4, which they said was OK, although he still has to try to keep away from others who have colds etc. I brought him home late in the afternoon and he was able to be with us all at the funeral on Tuesday.
So hopefully that's an end of it, but this was all quite a scary experience. They said that if he had picked up a bacterial infection when the cell count was at its lowest, it could have killed him in hours.
All we want at the moment is a nice uneventful time, and a chance to enjoy the sunshine together.
Marje
Edited by member 08 Apr 2015 at 20:54
| Reason: Not specified