ICU

Oh my. What a day it's been. Ethan woke up very early overnight complaining of tummy pains - which has been common throughout his treatment due to side effects from his meds but it seemed a lot more intense than normal. What started as tummy pains led to vomiting and eventually a 101 fever, which brought us to the outpatient clinic at around 10am, where things kept getting worse. We had been told before that fevers were never anything to mess around with during this process and today we saw firsthand how quickly his situation could deteriorate.

Basically what happened is that his temp was high and so 2 antibiotics were started. There is no way to know initially if he has a virus or bacterial infection and because his body's immune system is low, they always treat any fever as a bacterial infection; thus the antibiotics were started. Despite the antibiotics and fluids being given, his heart rate continued to stay at a very high range and wouldn't come down. Because of this we were sent to the ICU so that he could be more closely monitored.

Once we got to the ICU things slowly started to settle down, thankfully. He has had tons of labs drawn and cultures sent off to see if anything points to infection. He tested positive for a common cold virus/enterovirus that could explain his vomiting earlier but they were also concerned that his PICC line could be infected. Since he does not need his PICC line for any chemo this week the decision was made to take out his line, hoping that if it is any source of infection that will help to clear things up as well.

The plan as we know right now: Tonight we stay in the ICU and hopefully we can move to our regular HemOnc floor tomorrow, assuming that he stays stable. All of tomorrow's Day 29 procedures have been postponed and will likely take place sometime this week once he shows good recovery from all of this. He has improved greatly throughout the day and is sleeping peacefully now.

Please, please keep Ethan in your prayers tonight. It has been a very long, trying day and he is exhausted. Pray that he gets good rest, that his vitals continue to stabilize and that this virus/infection/whatever is going on is healed. Today was a big reminder of how quickly things can turn. Thank you for your diligence in covering us with prayer. We will keep you posted as we know more.