7:30 AM The last twenty-four hours have been difficult, and the primary culprit has been this persistent fever. It went to 104 during the night, and we've gotten it down again to 101. It has been rollercoastering like this since yesterday afternoon; it spikes up, and he is given Tylenol, and at one point last night we put bags of ice under his arms and wiped him off with a cool cloth. It helps, but he remains febrile. There's no cause for alarm, but it is miserable for Jimmy, and unnerving for this inexperienced caregiver.
He has also developed some sore places in his mouth: not too bad, but enough to make him talk like he has a mouthful of marbles. I told him that he sounds like Lou Holtz on ESPN.
6PM Jimmy rallied some this morning, and managed to walk two laps, falling far short of the prescribed twenty-one. His fever has been inching up all afternoon, but we're hoping we won't have a repeat of last night. Cultures are still not showing anything; a CT scan was done on his chest yesterday, and another one on his sinuses this afternoon, to make sure nothing is being overlooked.
Today his platelets were 11,000, so he got a bag of those; his hematocrit was 24, so he got two units of blood; his white blood cells are still gone, so he 's getting an arsenal of antibiotics. All the i's are being dotted, and all the t's are being crossed, and it is reassuring to know that he is being so well cared for.
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