Leonie was up and out early on Wednesday so she could have her theory test. Before she left I told her that I was cold but was happy that I had two hot water bottles next to me in bed; Oscar and Sidney.
After she left we got up and went down for breakfast. I didn't feel too good and took my temperature, it was 38.6 degrees. I took my medication and had some breakfast but I was shivering uncontrollably. Leonie called shortly afterwards to tell me she had passed her driving theory test and I told her about my temperature and shivers, she decided to rush home.
When she arrived back, I took my temperature again and it was still high so I called oncology who told me to come in as soon as possible. I arranged for my mum to drive me as I was unable to with my shivering.
When we got to Rosemere, we went up to the day unit and I was shown into a room by my nurse for the day, Liz. She took my obs and started her work; she took some blood to grow some cultures and then started me on a IV antibiotic drip.
Within about half an hour I started to feel much better. Liz continued to take my obs during the morning. I began with a heart rate of 112 and blood pressure over 130, by the time I left my obs had dropped to a heart rate of 73 (normally I'm around 50-60) and blood pressure of 115 which was more normal. My temperature also fell to around 37 degrees.
While I was having my IV a doctor came to see me and prodded and poked about my abdomen, some of the scar tissue was still sore so it hurt a little but he couldn't find any signs of infection. My bloods came back normal too. They would put the spike in temperature down to either infection or Neutropenic Sepsis; if it was the latter I would need to stay in over night so it wasn't looking good. I called Leonie to let her know.
As the day went on I got so much better and responded well to the treatment so with no signs of it being caused by infection or going Neutropenic they decided to let me go home; but not without two courses of antibiotics!
We got home about half 3 and everybody had rallied around. My mum for taking me to hospital, Leonie’s mum coming over to look after the kids, in laws were organised to look after the boys the following day to give me a break and get some rest and most importantly Leonie for looking after me and taking it all in her stride.
I had started the day in a bad way but by the end of the day I was feeling so much better, granted I was absolutely knackered but everything was under control. It was scary to go through the experience and without an explanation as to why it happened. I know that my immune system is low after chemo but I had got an infection. Perhaps it's my body saying enough is enough and giving itself a break from fighting the chemo. It actually really took a lot out of me and I was planning to rest up as much as possible over the next few days, so I won't be running this week at least.
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