How Quickly Things Change

It had been a while since I posted so I gave an update on how well things were going on Wednesday- I must have jinxed us!  On Thursday, Maddy ended up in the hospital and she is still in.  We had noticed a red mark on her neck a couple days prior.  We didn't think much about it at first-thought maybe she scratched it or something rubbed it.  It wasn't until Thursday morning when the redness was still there and it perfectly followed the path of the catheter cord in her neck that we got a little worried.  After talking to Nurse Yoder at school, I mentioned it to the nurse at the clinic on the phone...  Needless to say, we were told to report to the hospital.  The red line traveling along the cord was a sign of infection- the only sign Maddy had.  They thought at first the infection was just around the outside of the catheter in the track where the cord runs, but blood cultures showed signs of infection in both lumens as well. We are now playing the waiting game treating Maddy with high doses of antibiotics in hopes to clear up the infection so that her line does not have to be pulled.  This, however, puts all her chemo on hold.  Also, Maddy's oncologist is worried that the infection will continue to come back.  We will hopefully know a little more tomorrow and by Monday or Tuesday will possibly be able to make a final decision on what to do.  YUCK!