Nothing common for Geri

Tues. 1:00pm. The IV antibiotic they gave Geri in the ER was 'Gent'. Having got to her room at 1:00am they woke her at 4:00am to give another antibiotic drip, 'Vank'. This morning they did a CAT scan and concluded Geri has Lemierre's syndrome, a very rare disease caused by a bacterium which is normally present in the 'oropharyngeal flora', i.e., the bugs that live in your throat . The infection leads to formation of thrombosis (blood clots) in the internal jugular vein but can be treated with antibiotics.

They think Geri will be in hospital for a few days. She will be on a continuous blood thinner IV for 3+ days as well as an antibiotic IV. They will take blood every 6 hours to check to check on progress.

We have just had a visit from an infectious desease Dr. who says the treatment will require IV antibiotics a couple of times a day for 4 to 6 weeks but that this can be done at home after the initial phase. How this affects the radiation schedule we don't know until we see the radiation oncologist next Monday. Every day is a new bend in the road.