Sigh...

After Beckham's 4th round of chemo I was so amazed at how well he was doing! You would of never guessed that he just had been in the hospitals the last couple days. I was naturally very happy about this. After the previous round of chemo it just made me sick thinking about how awful his treatments can make him feel. This round was easy...it was nice. Not entirely nice...but better. Well, a week ago Beckham woke up acting a little different. His energy was about the same...but he didn't want to eat. I checked his temperature. I was immediately nervous. Brian was out of town for the weekend and I potentially had a little boy getting sick. I knew it was very likely he was coming down with something since his ANC was 0 and with no immune system it doesn't take much to knock you down.
The rule they give us is to call if he has a temperature of 100.4 for over an hour or plan on just coming in if he hits 101. Beckham was at about 100.2 most of the day. When they are neutropenic though a fever is not always manifested so you have to watch for other symptoms. Well, I called Primary Children's ER and spoke with a charge nurse at about 7pm. I knew his temp would most likely go up in the night. They told me to bring him right in and thankfully my brother and his wife were able to come right over and watch Navy. My brother decided to head up with me and I'm so glad he did. It was nice to have family with me while I'm stressing out with what could be wrong.



After a few tests and nothing clearly showing up. They decided to admit him. Beckham burst into tears when I told him we were staying at the hospital. He just wanted to go home. I felt so bad for him.


Beckham ended up staying till Tuesday afternoon. The nurses continued to take blood cultures to see if anything would show up. Nothing did though. His fevers would spike and we would have moments where he looked sick. They told me that mostly likely it was just a cold.



When you are neutropenic and when they are unsure of the cause of sickness they put you on a general antibiotic. Between that and two blood (red and platelet) transfusions he seemed to be getting better each day. :)


Brian got back in town last Sunday and was able to come up to the hospital to give me a break. It was really hard for me to leave Beckham this time. He cried when I told him I had to leave and as I walked out he would yell out for me. I eventually had to stop walking in and just keep walking. It broke my heart.
I am sure I drive Beckham nuts, but I hover over him when we are home. I watch his every move looking for any changes or signs that anything is wrong. I try to relax, but it's hard. I worry about him all the time. With that being said he is responding really well to his treatments so far. He has a lot a head of him still, but he is one tough little guy.