Back to the hospital they go...

Well, John's back at Chester County hospital.

Yesterday as the day progressed, John wasn't feeling real great. In addition to his stomach bothering him, his temperature was climbing slowly into a low grade fever; and after everything he's been through to date, the doctor didn't want to wait until this morning to see him. So, around 11:00 last night Mom and Dad and John were off to the hospital.

In the ER they did bloodwork and discovered that his white blood cell count was low.  His PICC line had started causing some discomfort and had some white marks on the skin around the site, so they ended up taking that out and putting in a regular IV. He also had a chest x-ray and a number of blood cultures done. They won't get results from the blood cultures for 48 hours, so they're saying he'll be in at least through Tuesday.

In the meantime, they've decided to start treating for MRSA.  In addition to the blood thinners and antibiotics that he was already on, he's now also on Vancomycin to treat that. However, as soon as they started administering that his arm was itching and he started getting hives.  Apparently Vancomycin can cause irritation in the veins and is really intended to go into a PICC line. But, since they'd just taken out his PICC line, they opted to move his IV line into a bigger vein in his upper arm, cut back the dosage, and put him on Benadryl.

Sometime today he's supposed to see a hematologist and an infectious disease doctor, and hopefully we'll know something more definitive when the cultures come back on Tuesday.

Mom and Dad didn't get home until 6:30 this morning, so they're both still catching up on some sleep.

Please continue to pray: that the cultures would show something definitive, that everyone would get the rest that they need, that John wouldn't react to the new drugs he's on, and ultimately, that John would heal and return to good health.

Thank you!