Subject: Brian's fever a mystery

Thursday, 2/19

Brian's Web Site---  http://www-d0.fnal.gov/~hanlet/Brian/brian.html

Dear Friends and Family,

I reread yesterday's update and want to apologize for the awkward wording!  I
was so tired that I did not do a proofread!

Brian's high fever is a puzzle.  They did a chest x-ray today to check to see
if he has pneumonia--results not back yet.  The CDEF that he has is a
bacterial infection in his stomach.  They wonder if he also has a fungal
infection somewhere-- this would need a different antibiotic.  The IV
medication for CDEF is not working, so they must switch to oral vancomyacin
which is very nasty.  It will be hard on Brian to have to swallow it.  He's
had to do it before when he got CDEF.

His doctor mentioned doing a CTSCAN to try to figure out the cause of the
fever.  This would mean that Brian would have to drink contrast--a dye.  He
hates doing this.  This scan may not even be done--it was just mentioned once.
Will have to see if the fever continues to persist.

Stan loves Sara's new brown hair!!  Sara likes it very much!

Sara is trying very hard to eat healthy while in the hospital.  She and Stan
went shopping last weekend and got a bag of food for her.  She put it in the
patient refrigerator on the hall and someone STOLE much of the food in her
bag!  It was clearly marked with Brian's name!  We are trying to make a spot
in the room for her to keep food cold.  I am on the phone while writing this
trying to find a cheap styrofoam cooler--a definite summer item.  I was going
to see if anyone has one in their garage but....Wow!  I found one!!!  I guess
I should delete this paragraph, but it does tell you of one more problem of
this long term stay in the hospital.  Brian is not eligible for food (He gets
TPN in his IV.), so Sara can't get food delivered to the room.  Besides the
hospital food is very bad and fattening.  We are able to keep food at Happy
House, but when alone Sara cannot go over there to get the food.  Living for
months in the hospital gets complicated.  At first you just eat anything to
survive, but now we know this is going to go on and on; so, we have to look at
more long term solutions to daily problems.

Please pray that the cause of Brian's fevers can be discovered and treated.
Please pray for a calm, fun weekend for Brian before he starts chemo on
Monday.  Pray that he feels good enough to play for a few hours.  He has felt
weak all week and has not been able to listen to stories or play at all.

Love,
Susan