Another Fever and Clinic Day

In the past week Ryley has lost his 2 front teeth.  The tooth fairy is going broke, but it is good to finally see him losing some teeth.


This past Sunday Karlee wasn’t feeling too good, and around noon we took her temperature and it was over 39.  After a quick call to the on-call Oncologist Jennifer and Karlee were on their way up to the unit.  We had a bit of a scramble getting out of the house as Ryley was going to Skillz at the same time.  They dropped us off at Skillz and then realized they didn’t put freezie cream on Karlee’s port so they had to turn around and head back home.  They took blood and cultures when they got to the hospital.  When they saw the doctor he was concerned about a crackle in her lung so he ordered an x-ray.  He wanted to hold off on the antibiotics until he had seen the x-ray so they were a little delayed.  There was no radiologist there on Sunday so he read the x-ray himself and felt there were no issues.  So after a quick dose of antibiotics they were back to Grandma’s just after 6pm and in time for a slightly late supper.


The fever continued Sunday night and Monday morning.  She was supposed to have a penguin celebration at school and the wrap up for their Generosity Days benefiting Camp Kindle, but was not feeling up to going.  She still had the fever and was accessed so it just wasn’t possible for her to be there.  The supplies for Camp Kindle are just incredible and have far exceeded all expectations.  Somerset School really is an incredible group of kids, parents and teachers!  Everything will be put to good use and will be appreciated by the kids and staff at Camp Kindle!


Monday afternoon Dad got to take Karlee to the clinic to get another dose of antibiotics.  We got there at 2:30, got our isolation room and got the drugs really fast.  We were out of there just after 3:30 and on our way home!  It was a great visit as it was very fast.  We stopped at Fabricland for Mom.  She needed some fabric and the other 3 Fabricland’s we had tried were sold out.  I think I might have cheered in the store when they had it!


Monday evening she still had her fever going.  Thankfully we were allowed to give Tylenol so we were able to keep her comfortable.  Tuesday was Valentine’s Day and again Karlee didn’t get to go to school for her party.  We dropped off the cheese and crackers for the party and her Valentine’s with another parent and came home to let her rest.  Mom went to school to volunteer for special lunch with the rest of the school.  When she got back Karlee was again warm.  When we took her temperature it was 38.7 so we called up to see if they wanted us to give her Tylenol this close to her appointment.  The nurse said to go for it since we would be in in 2.5 hours and could be checked out then.  No sooner had we given her the Tylenol than the phone rang again.  I figured we were being told not to give her the Tylenol, but they just wanted to see her as soon as possible.  So after a little juggling we were off to the clinic again.


When we got to the clinic they put us in an exam room as an isolation room.  Nurse Allison was in shortly and informed me that this was the room that Karlee had coded in with her.  She quickly took some more blood and took us off isolation.  On the way in the clinic Karlee got a cute Valentine bear, candy and a heart balloon.  It was a nice visit for Dad as he got to see a couple of doctor, nurses, Laura (social worker) and Chantel (Child Life Specialist).  We saw Dr. Lewis today and he wasn’t too concerned about the fever as it seemed to be getting lower and was responding well to Tylenol.  After a pretty thorough physical exam he decided that we would go ahead with chemo today assuming her cultures from Sunday were still negative.  While we were waiting for chemo Chantel came by and Jennifer donated a couple of pair of slippers to the unit.  She is trying to donate 2 pairs a month to the unit or clinic.  Chantel said the kids enjoyed getting slippers when they are on the unit.


We had a fun little time playing DS and watching movies.  They gave Karlee the chemo without any issues and we were on our way home again.  Dr. Lewis just wanted us to try and control her fever with Tylenol so hopefully that works and we don’t end up at the hospital again this weekend.  Before supper we gave the kids their Valentine’s gifts.  This year instead of candy and stuffed animals we got them each a little lego set.  They both loved them and had a great time building them.


Today was the 100th day of school so Ryley’s class had to dress up as though they were 100 years old.  He really enjoyed the idea and ran with it.  He got a cane, wore a flannel shirt and a pair of pants.  Mom did a comb over on his hair and dyed it white and he wore his glasses on his nose.  Even his teacher commented on what a great job he did dressing up.


Jennifer has been busy making slippers as we seem to be getting some business off facebook (www.facebook.com/slipperbyjennifer).


The head shave has been going really good so far!  We have met our goal already and have increased it by another $1,000.  If you want to sponsor us you can do so at the following link: https://secure.csfm.com/kidscancer/shaveyourlidforakid/home/profile.php?participant_id=746992561327074991  We would like to thank everyone for the incredible support for this event!