Blood Transfusion & Hospital

This past Thursday, June 9, Felicitas was scheduled for her chemo treatment. Unfortunately, after her lab work showed that her blood counts were at a record low, the doctors decided she needed a blood transfusion instead. Understandably, she was pretty upset with this news. Once again, her chemo was going to have to be pushed back a week, therefore delaying her treatment. 


The following day, she had a fever, so Dr. Parker had her go to the emergency room at UCSD's Thornton Hospital. After spending around 7 hours in the ER on Friday, they admitted her into the hospital. Her fever spiked to 103.1 that night. She was given fluids and antibiotics to bring her fever down. Dr. Parker came to see her and told her she thought they'd need to keep her until Sunday to monitor her. 


On Saturday, Junior brought the girls to visit, but Felicitas broke out in a rash so she had them leave. It turned out she had an allergic reaction to one of the medications she'd been given. They ended up moving her to another floor where the doctors could monitor her more closely. They were concerned that her blood pressure was too low and she was having discomfort when inhaling. 


On Sunday, she was still having pain when breathing in. Her doctors performed a blood test to test for a possible pulmonary embolism (blood clot) in her lungs. Normal levels should be at a 240, but Felicitas' came back at a 371. After much debate between countless doctors on whether or not to perform a chest CT, Dr. Parker, who was out of town, sent two oncologists on her team to evaluate Felicitas. They decided that a chest CT wasn't necessary. There are several different factors that could have elevated her results from the blood test, cancer being one of them. They also tested for different bacteria, but fortunately, all the bacterial cultures came back negative.


This morning, Felicitas thought she would be getting discharged, but the doctors were still concerned with her inability to take a deep breath. Instead of a chest CT, they performed a V-Q scan (ventilation-perfusion scan), which studies the airflow and blood flow in the lungs. Results showed there was no pulmonary embolism! She was discharged tonight and is happy to finally be home with her family. 


She is scheduled for chemotherapy this Friday, if all goes well!