karenulijohn

Friday night, after my last post, we went to the Lincoln Rotary Social evening where it became very clear to me that Harvey was not feeling well.  He barely ate a thing, and sat in one chair on the patio throughout the evening.  Even more telling, he took a pass on the wine.  We took our leave and had an early night.  I awoke around 1:00AM and was not able to fall back asleep.  Finally, around 3:00AM, I decided to check on him and when I touched his forehead, it was blazingly hot.  His fever registered 103 degrees F.  After two Tylenol, he went back to sleep immediately.  I checked several more times and then must have finally drifted off to sleep.  Around 6:00AM, it was clear that he had experienced a severe night sweat.  The bedding was very damp.  When he finally got up on Saturday morning, he rallied enough to go pick up the rear tail light lens from the Chrysler dealer.  However, the effort of standing in line and waiting for over half an hour took its toll and he slept most of the afternoon.  By this time, I was giving him Tylenol every six hours to try and keep the fever at bay. Despite his having no appetite, and feeling very listless and tired, he fixed the backup light on the Chrysler and even did some touch up to the paint.

Sunday morning, I went off to play for the church service, leaving him sleeping in bed.  When I got home, he was sitting on the patio, reading his paper.  I noticed that the lawn had been cut.  Yes indeed, he had mowed the lawn.  I figured if he felt well enough to mow the lawn, he could take me to the grocery store.  He still had little appetite and had had a small (tiny) bowl of cereal for breakfast.  I talked him into  some frozen yogurt, and while we were shopping, I tried to gauge his interest in anything for dinner.  The only thing that appealed was pumpkin pie.  He slept again for most of the afternoon while I hand-finished my sewing project and watched the movie “What to Expect, When You are Expecting.”  Harvey did not experience any fever on Sunday and by the evening, after the pie, he was feeling (and sounding) more like his old self.  We had a few laughs watching an old Abbot and Costello film, marveling at how silly they were, and wondering who determined that mummy’s should roar and growl.

Yesterday, we telephoned the Dr. and spoke to the oncology nurse.  We reported all of the above.  She said that if his fever goes over 101 degrees F again, we should call, even if it is the middle of the night on a weekend.  However, the treatment suggestion would have been the same: take two Tylenol!  Though he still felt a lack of energy, we did have a nice day pottering around the house.  I tried out my NuWave oven on some frozen hamburger patties.  The flavor was good, but the patties themselves were a little rubbery.  I also steamed some cauliflower and dumped a bunch of butter and cheese on it.  I think he liked that the best.  We were feeling hopeful that we had weathered the storm, but at bedtime, I noticed that he was very warm again.  His temperature was 101 degrees F, and the Tylenol dosage began again.

This morning when I checked on him, the bedding was soaking.  I read a little bit about night sweats and discovered that they can be caused by hormonal changes.  In fact, that is one of the side effects that was described in the Yervoy drug details.  Good nutrition and exercise can go  a long way in helping to prevent them.  It probably wouldn’t hurt either of us to be more careful about day to day nutrition.  I’ll try!!