And I thought Friday was a long day

Its 1:00am and I have just returned from the hospital. Geri has been admitted overnight to have IV antibiotics because of an infection in the port region and, as she has been on oral antibiotics for the last month, they thought something different was required. There is never a dull day with this girl.

But to recap, following the long day at Emory on Friday we went back Saturday morning for another unit of blood and platelets. That went fine and we were home by 3:00pm. Geri was still tired and remained in bed on Sunday but Syd and Zola visited for a couple of hours in the afternoon to entertain her. Late afternoon Geri was feeling some swelling and tenderness in her neck where the port line had run up to her jugular vein. We called the 800 number and several of Geri's personal medical support network, including nurse Rose who made a house call. Consensus was that we should visit the hospital if it was not better by morning.

We called first thing Monday and made 12:00pm appointment to see the Doc. who had removed the port. He and/or his nursing staff have been inspecting the site twice a week since it was removed. The Dr. confirmed it was swollen and requested an ultrasound scan. An hour later he does the scan and thinks there is some infection, but because he is not an oncologist, wants to consult with Geri's chemo doc. Of course, Geri's oncologist is away for three weeks so he gets transferred to his on-call stand-in who, being unfamiliar with the case and being 8 miles away at Emory, tell him to send us across to the cancer clinic where we usually attend for chemo. We immediately go over there (its now 2:00pm) only to find there are no doctors on duty there. The nursing staff offer sympathy and suggest the best thing is to go to the Emergency Room.

We arrive in ER at 2:20pm and check in. Because of the chemo and Geri's low immunity they put us in a private "family Room" instead of the general waiting area to wait. At 4:00pm we are called to an anteroom for triage and told it will be at least an hour before we see a doctor. At 6:30pm we inquire and are told we are near the top of the list. At 7:00pm a lady from admin. appears and wants to know how we are going to pay the copay. "Oh goody", I think "we must be getting close if they want their money". Alas, false hope. At 8:00pm we are called back to the inner temple where the real stuff happens and are put in a closed room. The "usherette" who showed us to the room said, in reply to our inquiry about how long a wait, it looks like there is only one file in the rack ahead of you. (Do they teach them to say such things in hospital school or do they just have a a sick sense of humor). After a couple of inquiries and being told "We are very busy and have a lot of people here. Someone will be with you shortly" (The latter is another hospital school expression which means about 2 hours).

We finally see a doctor at 10:05pm, he has a look and says "Its infected we need to admit you for IV antibiotics. We will get you started on the IV and an internist will be with you shortly (that word again) to check you over and do the admitting". They do a chest X-ray, draw blood and start the antibiotic drip about 15 mins. later. At 11:15 the internist does a more thorough Q&A, says the blood numbers are showing signs of improvement since Saturday and someone will be here shortly (Is this the only word they have for a period of time?) to take you to a room upstairs and give you some more antibiotic. I left at 12:20am and Geri called me as I arrived home at 1:00am to say she was on her way to a room.

Except for the tenderness in her neck, Geri was feeling a lot better today (Monday) than she had been over the weekend and most of last week. She may come home tomorrow, we will know more in the morning when they see how the antibiotics are performing. And now, dear reader, you are up to date.