Day #19

We found a great BBQ place near the hospital today- Tom's BBQ and Grill...

Maddy had not been feeling the best over the weekend and has not been eating much.  She then spiked a fever in the middle of the night last night.  As a result, she had to be hooked backed up to her IV fluids and started getting IV antibiotics.  The nurse also tried to draw blood to start cultures (the protocol when Maddy gets a fever).  However, her catheter was clogged and the nurse could not draw the blood, so they had to inject a drug into Maddy's catheter to break up the clog.  After about two hours this morning, the clog finally broke up and the nurse was able to draw blood.  Her bloodwork showed that those darn white blood cells were still hanging out at 100 and her red blood cells had also dropped, so Maddy needed another transfusion.  Because she had an allergic reaction to blood products, they had to pre-medicate her with Benadryl and Tylenol before giving her the transfusion.  Then she had her transfusion.  Because her blood pressure seems to go up every time she receives blood products, she had to have lasix after the transfusion.  The lasix combined with the IV fluids caused her to have to go to the bathroom every 10 minutes.  On one of her many trips to the bathroom, she rammed the base of the IV pole into her heel  tearing off a chunk of skin-  not good to have open wounds with no immune system!   By the time Julia and I arrived at the hospital, Maddy and Dad were whipped.  We then talked to the doctor who is concerned that Maddy is not eating enough and getting enough nutrients (which we all know is not like Maddy).  She said she needed to start eating more or she would have to start giving her nutrients through her IV.  To try to prevent this, we started listing every food we could think of that might appeal to Maddy for supper tonight.  She picked BBQ ribs, so Russ and I ventured out to find the BBQ place that a friend had told us about- Tom's BBQ and Grill right across the river.

We highly recommend the ribs at Tom's!