karenulijohn

Despite beginning a course of antibiotics, Harvey ran a temperature of 102 on Sunday night.  He was very agitated and uncomfortable, and although he took Tylenol and we applied cool compresses and an ice pack on his neck, it took some time for the fever to abate.  It was early Monday morning before either of us was able to get to sleep.  Around 10:30 AM, we telephoned the on-call doctor, Dr. Reddy, and he advised us to go to the emergency room so that Harvey could be properly evaluated and tests could be run.  Dr. Reddy assured us that the ER does a good job of triage and usually gets cancer patients out of the waiting room quickly.  So, I dropped him off at the door while I went to park the car.  By the time I walked through the door, they were calling his name.  We were escorted to a small cubicle behind the check-in desk where a very nice young (and handsome) male nurse began asking questions.  Harvey looked at me with something of a pleading look, and I took over describing symptoms and timeline.  I was a little disturbed by the fact that the nurse did not know anything about Yervoy.  In any case, he asked us to wait in the waiting room, and they would call us when a room became available.  We had just gotten situated when this same young man came over and asked Harvey why he was sitting down because they had a room for him.

Once Harvey was gowned and settled on the gurney, Erin, a very pretty and friendly nurse came in to access the Power Port and draw blood.  A little while later, a technician with a portable X-ray machine came in to take a chest X-ray.  The ER doctor then came in and said that all of the tests look normal, blood levels are within range and except for some dehydration, he can’t find any infection that would cause the fevers.  In consultation with Dr. Reddy, they determined that his condition was a result of the Yervoy.  We received this news with a mixture of relief and disappointment because we now know that he just has to “tough it out.”  They gave him a liter of saline intravenously and then sent us home.  This entire process took about four hours.  Harvey slept most of the time and I sat on the hardest chair in the universe and did eight word search puzzles.  When we got home Harvey went immediately to bed and slept most of the rest of the day.

I am going to be gone for a good part of the day today, and I have given Harvey explicit instructions that he is not to attempt any home or garden repairs while I’m gone.  There are a couple of things he can do at the computer, but that’s it!  I wonder if I can trust him.