Day 70: Low Temp and Hospital Stay

The past 2 weeks have been mostly good days for Cristian. He has been active, playful, and generally a good attitude. Not having the chemo administered daily at home has allowed him a slight reprieve to recover.

However over that same time he has had a very limited appetite. His weight has dropped slightly, some of which was expected following no more steroids. The Dr prescribed an appetite stimulant for Cristian. We use it as motivation for him to eat or take meds, he usually chooses to eat. This has some success but not foolproof.

Yesterday Cristian was very fussy and low energy in the afternoon. Seeing how this wasn’t normal behavior we took his temp, 96.7. We have been instructed that anything below a 96 is a trip to the hospital. Luckily as the evening went on his temp came back up over 97.

Today Cristian again was fussy following nap time, but this time his temp was 95.8. We gave him some water and held him a bit to comfort him, hoping his temp would rise. After about 5 min he was up to 97 again. Unfortunately 10 min later he was down to 96.1. That’s when we made the call to head into the hospital per instructions.

Upon arrival they checked Cristian over including a blood draw and urine sample. Following the test results and a discussion with the oncology team, they decided to administer an antibiotic and admit Cristian for observation. They want to ensure that his temperature stabilizes and that the blood counts improve.

Luckily he has his tablet and is able to tune out most of what is going on around him. We are planning to be here for 24-48 hours, when they predict his blood levels will increase to the desired levels.

We are praying for a quick recovery for Cristian on this stay and that we are able to leave tomorrow. We ask that everyone following our journey do the same so he can get back to the comfort of his own bed!