Iowa City ER Visit #4 - Fever - November 1-2

When we got to the ER, we were glad to see just a few people waiting. However, we learned that this does not necessarily equate to getting in right away. We did get into an ER room just after 10 PM and decided that waiting for just over an hour was not too bad. I told them there that I was becoming a "frequent flyer" in the ER because it was my 4th time in a month and a half.

We are so grateful for your prayers and encouragement, especially when things do not go as we would have wanted or desired!

They confirmed my temperature of nearly 102. And they ran three sets of blood cultures to determine what type of infection (or infections) I had - which can be up to a 48-hour process. Once again I was neutropenic, a common problem with chemotherapy, which meant that I had a fever of more than 100.4 along with an extremely low white blood cell count. They started me on intravenous (IV) antibiotics almost immediately.

Waiting in the ER room

We knew that they would be admitting me, so it was just a matter of waiting for a room, which would hopefully be in the hematology unit. I was dozing off about 1 AM, so Denise decided to go home, even though she could have stayed longer.

Then I slept off and on until about 4 AM, when someone came to get me to bring me to my room in hematology. And so began my next hospital stay, which Denise and I expected to last until Thursday.