Feb. 24 Update on Brooke - OT

On Feb 25, 2:06*pm, Jack Campin - bogus address
wrote:
For the mouth sores, ask her doctor about prescribing a rinse. *Can't
remember all that is in it, but one item is an antacid liquid. *The
other, I think (not sure) is like benedryl. *You don't swallow it,
just swish.

Benzydamine? *(usual brand name Difflam in the UK). *It works like
aspirin, only locally. *I've found it very effective. *You don't
need a prescription for it here but you WOULD need to ask the doctor
if there were problems about using it along with Brooke's treatment
regimen.

That sounds close. It's been a while (3 years give or take). I
needed a "prescription" because the pharmacy had to mix it up
themselves, and the doctor determined how much of what (I do remember
there being an antacid in it, the pharmacist told me to be careful
because of it, that's why I wasn't supposed to swallow any). The
pharmacist wouldn't have given it to me (because of medications)
without a 'script', even if I'd known the mix.

I had mouth ulcers caused by a compromised immune system (almost like
canker sores), so I suspect it could be very similar to what Brooke
has. They hurt like the devil, particularly if you get *anything*
(like spit) on them. Had to swish and spit 6 times a day, the draw
back was that I lost any sense of taste while taking the stuff, but it
got my mouth through the worst of it, so I didn't mind (and one
actually can eat, even without being able to taste anything, which
surprised me).

"CatNipped" wrote in message
...
February 24,2009 Update on Brooke

Saturday Brooke stayed in bed all day, sleeping most of the time. Around
7pm I took Brooke's blood pressure and it was 93/63 and her pulse was 148.
For those who don't know, a normal pulse rate is between 60 - 100 beats
per minute. Then I checked her temp. It was 102.9. I was told to bring her
to the emergency room if her temp. was 100.5 or greater. So about 35
minutes later we got to the hospital and they took her to the back
immediately and checked her temp. In those 35 minutes it had jumped to 104
and her pulse was 161. They tried to draw blood from all three of her
central lines. From the brown one they got 3cc, from the blue one they
only got 2cc, and from her white one none. They also drew blood from her
arm. They sent all the blood to the lab to see if anything would grow from
those cultures to see where the infection could be. They started her on an
IV and gave her antibiotics plus Tylenol. They also took her for an x-ray.
About 2 hours later we were back on the fourth floor getting settled in.
Throughout the night and the next day her fever went up and down.

Sunday her labs came back - her blood counts were way down. The doctor
came in and told me she needed a blood transfusion (she's A+). Around 8pm
they started the blood transfusion and gave her two bags throughout the
night. She had a 2 degree increase in her temperature, so they said that
could be a slight reaction to the blood transfusion, so they sent more
blood to the lab to check just in case.

Monday morning, after the blood transfusion was finished, they wanted to
draw blood from her central line but they couldn't - there were clots in
all three lines. So they put meds into her lines to try and dissolve the
clots, and two hours later all three were clear. Then more blood was sent
to the lab to see if the blood transfusion helped.

Since around Sunday afternoon she hasn't had any more fever, the
antibiotics must be working.

Tuesday afternoon Brooke woke up with cold sores on her mouth from the
fever she ran, but, other than her sleeping most of the day, it was pretty
much uneventful. Around 6pm that night the doctor came in and told us,
basically, they don't know why she ran fever. All her cultures came back
fine and she could go home. So I packed all our stuff and we were ready.
Brooke went into the bathroom before we left and she told me to come
quickly. All inside her mouth and under her nose had tiny white blisters.
I immediately went to get the doctor because I've never seen that before.
The doctor came in and said yep that's more fever blisters. Because her
immune system is down her body is having a worse reaction to it. But we
were still free to leave - whoo hoo!!! She came home with even more
medicine than before. Everyone cross your fingers and hope her nasty fever
blisters go away!!!!

--
Hugs,

CatNipped

Visit all my masters at: http://www.PossiblePlaces.com/CatNipped/

Sending heartfelt purrs and purrayers for Brooke and for your family from
us.
Christine
"CatNipped" wrote in message
...
February 24,2009 Update on Brooke

Saturday Brooke stayed in bed all day, sleeping most of the time. Around
7pm I took Brooke's blood pressure and it was 93/63 and her pulse was 148.
For those who don't know, a normal pulse rate is between 60 - 100 beats
per minute. Then I checked her temp. It was 102.9. I was told to bring her
to the emergency room if her temp. was 100.5 or greater. So about 35
minutes later we got to the hospital and they took her to the back
immediately and checked her temp. In those 35 minutes it had jumped to 104
and her pulse was 161. They tried to draw blood from all three of her
central lines. From the brown one they got 3cc, from the blue one they
only got 2cc, and from her white one none. They also drew blood from her
arm. They sent all the blood to the lab to see if anything would grow from
those cultures to see where the infection could be. They started her on an
IV and gave her antibiotics plus Tylenol. They also took her for an x-ray.
About 2 hours later we were back on the fourth floor getting settled in.
Throughout the night and the next day her fever went up and down.

Sunday her labs came back - her blood counts were way down. The doctor
came in and told me she needed a blood transfusion (she's A+). Around 8pm
they started the blood transfusion and gave her two bags throughout the
night. She had a 2 degree increase in her temperature, so they said that
could be a slight reaction to the blood transfusion, so they sent more
blood to the lab to check just in case.

Monday morning, after the blood transfusion was finished, they wanted to
draw blood from her central line but they couldn't - there were clots in
all three lines. So they put meds into her lines to try and dissolve the
clots, and two hours later all three were clear. Then more blood was sent
to the lab to see if the blood transfusion helped.

Since around Sunday afternoon she hasn't had any more fever, the
antibiotics must be working.

Tuesday afternoon Brooke woke up with cold sores on her mouth from the
fever she ran, but, other than her sleeping most of the day, it was pretty
much uneventful. Around 6pm that night the doctor came in and told us,
basically, they don't know why she ran fever. All her cultures came back
fine and she could go home. So I packed all our stuff and we were ready.
Brooke went into the bathroom before we left and she told me to come
quickly. All inside her mouth and under her nose had tiny white blisters.
I immediately went to get the doctor because I've never seen that before.
The doctor came in and said yep that's more fever blisters. Because her
immune system is down her body is having a worse reaction to it. But we
were still free to leave - whoo hoo!!! She came home with even more
medicine than before. Everyone cross your fingers and hope her nasty fever
blisters go away!!!!

--
Hugs,

CatNipped

Visit all my masters at: http://www.PossiblePlaces.com/CatNipped/