Back in the Clink

I am sorry to say Harvey is back in the hospital. Out of the blue, last evening he suddenly spiked a fever of - 101.5F, well past the 100.5F trigger point for calling the transplant ward. Within one hour of our phone call Harvey was back on the ward, settled down and hooked up to three wide spectrum antibiotics. (Ceftazidime, Vancomycin, Tobramycin). The transition from civilian life to hospital life was much easier this time around, since we already knew the drill.

Today they are doing a whole bunch of tests and cultures using blood, urine, stool, nose and mouth swabs. The good news is that the chest X-ray showed nothing out of the ordinary and Harvey’s lungs and heart continue to be in good shape. Two days ago they tested for presence of CMV virus, a standard precaution. Harvey tested negative. He has a bit of nausea, but no actual throwing up and no diarrhea. Basically your average “Shake and Bake”, with fever and shivering chills with nothing else added on.

We won’t know the cause of the fever for a couple of days until the cultures have a chance to grow. We may never know what caused it. Frankly, I would be just as happy if the antibiotics kill the unknown culprit without us ever being able to put a name to this infection.

I would be kidding you if I said all of this is just another little blip and I am getting along merrily. Fevers in the transplant setting are always worrisome, always to be taken seriously. But the experts tell me this too is pretty common, most of their patients go through one or more of these episodes and do just fine after a couple more days in the hospital hooked up to intravenous medications. I hope this is the case with Harvey as well.

Be well,

Chaya