But I'm Not a Nurse!!

A week ago Thursday I was muttering the above-mentioned words to myself, followed by, “I really need to be one.”

That day was “bottom out day” for Dean’s immune system as he had had another chemo infusion the previous Thursday. We expected a total lack of energy but we didn’t expect what happened.

He ate a healthy breakfast (we had been grateful that his appetite had improved a lot over the past month), but when I checked on him at 11 AM, he said, “My chest is freezing.” As before, that was my cue to fetch the microwave pad, warm it up, and on his chest it would go.

He was still chilled at lunch and ate next to nothing. When I checked on him at 2:30, he was telling me he was too weak to get out of his chair and still cold. I reached for the microwave pad but “accidentally” thought to feel his forehead. He was burning hot.

          

I ran to get the thermometer and then left it under Dean's tongue as I dialed the Elko Clinic. The line was busy so I went back to check the thermometer and he had coughed it out onto his lap. I tried reading it. That was a sick joke with my poor vision and since Dean was somewhat delirious by this time, he couldn't read it either.

Much against his will, I called the ambulance to take him to the ER as he couldn’t walk to the car. He was admitted with a fever of 104 and eventually, his blood test revealed that his white blood cell count was “in the basement” at 0.4. He had a slight case of pneumonia but of course couldn’t fight it off on his own so he was given antibiotics. Then his blood pressure aimed for the bottom of the barrel. (Lots of lows that night.)

All that excitement was my reason for not posting a blog last week. Don’t know why I should have been tired, as all I did was sit there (and pray for that fever to go down—which it did by the time Dean was taken to a room).

I remember feeling quite depressed Saturday morning because I had not been able to reach/see the doctor and Dean didn’t seem to be making much progress.

I have been “inching” my way through the book  of Psalms and Saturday morning I was at chapter 94. When I read verses 18 and 19, I knew it was no accident I was reading that chapter at that particular time. The NKJV reads--"If I say, 'My foot slips,' your mercy, O Lord, holds me up. In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul." I sure felt like my foot had slipped and the anxieties were definitely making themselves known. The Lord is so gracious to us in our needy times.

When I got to the hospital that morning, Dean’s BP was back up to normal and the WBC count had increased a bit but still had a ways to go. He was released from the hospital about 6:30 PM on Monday so now we are back at working on the appetite increase.  And I will definitely be checking the man’s forehead for fever when he tells me his chest is cold!