Last week (week 3 of chemo/radiation) my dad started to experience more deficits once again and additional weakness that he hadn't experienced since he came home from the hospital after his surgery. The biggest differences physically were that his balance was way off and his hair was beginning to fall out where the radiation was being aimed. The symptoms of balance were attributed to additional swelling from radiation and his steroids were upped back to a level he had previously been at.
On Thursday evening, my mom noticed some drainage coming from the incision site. I advised her to wait until morning and then call the Siteman Cancer Center (where he gets his treatment) and ask them whether he should go for radiation or go to the emergency room. Siteman had them come in for treatment and while he was there, his radiation oncologist called Dr. Sprick (the neurosurgeon who did dad's initial surgery) to tell him Dad needed to be seen that same day. Once treatment was done, I met my parents at Dr. Sprick's office. He was in surgery, so they sent us for a CT scan of the head and some blood work. Then it was back to Dr. Sprick's office to wait until he was out of surgery.
The CT scan showed what Dr. Sprick expected... additional swelling caused by the radiation, but no clear abscess (pocket of infection). In a way, that was a good thing; but at the same time, now we were left without a clear answer as to what was causing this drainage that obviously looked like infection.
Ultimately, it was decided to "wait on it" for a week. They cultured the drainage, and my dad was to see an infectious disease doctor sometime this week (who happens to live across the street from my mom and dad) and based on this doctor's recommendation, they would proceed forward with treatment. Treatment being antibiotics directed at the specific infection that may be present. Dr. Sprick did not want to compound dad's therapy even more if it was ultimately unnecessary. My dad would also be rescanned and have additional blood work done in one week. They are attempting to determine whether this is in fact an infection (whether it is already present or just beginning), or whether it is byproducts of radiation necrosis. Dr. Sprick also gave strict instructions for my dad to go to the ER if he got progressively worse over the weekend (to include fever (which may be masked by the steroids), chills, nausea/vomiting, or increased headaches).
This morning (Monday) when my dad was getting ready prior to leaving for his radiation appointment, he fell in the shower and was unable to get down the stairs. My mom called Dan to help get him ready and downstairs so Dan headed straight over to their house. I called my mom to see what was going on, and she was trying to determine whether she should take him to radiation or to the ER as Dr. Sprick had mentioned. I advised her to call the Siteman Center and follow their advise since they were the ones who sent them back to Dr. Sprick in the first place. After talking with the nurse from Siteman, it was decided that my dad would go to the ER over at Barnes in St. Louis (one of the hospitals associated with the Siteman Center).
So, now we wait. Dan is driving them to the hospital and then coming home, and then we will go pick them up later this afternoon once everything is finished. My mom was just worried that she wouldn't be able to get my dad out of the car and into a wheelchair on her own. I'll write an update when we know if anything has changed from last week or what exactly is going on. Right now, we just want to make sure there isn't anything else in addition to the wear and tear that radiation and chemo put a body through.
No comments:
Post a Comment