Eli has still been running nighttime fevers and some low grade fevers during the day. Our last post explained why we took him to the hospital for blood work last Thursday night. On Friday we found out his CBC was normal, including a normal white blood cell count. One of his cardiologists called that afternoon to get another update. We were still waiting on some of the other blood work to come back, but he felt safe saying it's probably a virus and just has to run its course. He wanted us to call back on Monday to update them how the weekend went. The fevers continued through the weekend, but Eli was also playing and being his normal self most of the time. His appetite was even starting to increase.
We called Indy with an update on Monday morning. Later that afternoon, Sara called. She's Dr. Abraham's (surgeon) nurse practitioner. She wanted to hear for herself what was going on with Eli. She said she'd call if they wanted to do anything different. We later got a call from Dr. Amy's office saying that Dr. Amy & Dr. Steinberg (Indy cardiologist I spoke with on Friday & pacemaker guru of the group) had spoken with each other. One of Eli's blood tests (C-Reactive Protein) came back elevated (52). That test is an indicator of an inflammatory reaction taking place within the body. The doctors want to repeat that lab this coming Friday. Also, because he was still running an occasional low grade fever accompanied by the nighttime spikes, Dr. Amy wanted to see him in the office today to evaluate him again.
The doctor appointment went well. Eli has no obvious signs of infection (no red throat or infected ears, incisions look good, etc). His lungs sound good, but we went ahead with a chest x-ray because he's tricked us before with respiratory issues despite sounding clear. A quick glance at the image didn't show anything significant although we don't have the radiologist's interpretation yet. Eli was running a low fever again through the day (99.6) which is normally not concerning except it's accompanied by the late evening temperature spikes.
Our best guess at this point is that he has an inflammatory response occurring due to the surgeries he's had since mid-April. To recount he's had:
- the Fontan which also included mitral valve repair
- pacemaker placement (this was done at the same time as the Fontan and MV repair, but it is its own incision)
- multiple lines and drains due to the Fontan (two JP drains, an arterial line, and a central line)
- a staph infection in his blood which required removal of the central line and placement of a PICC line
- two pigtail chest tubes
- an abscess on his sternal incision which resulted in another trip to the OR and a wound vac for twelve days, including seven dressing changes
- a third trip to the OR for the diaphragm plication (to lower the right side of his diaphragm as it was creeping up and crowing his lung) which is another incision on his little chest
- another JP drain after the diaphragm plication
Yes, it would make total sense if he has an inflammatory process still going on! We hope that's all it is. That or a viral bug that is just about done with him!
Specific Prayer Requests:
- prayers of thankfulness that Eli is actually feeling pretty good through most of this
- prayers that his fevers stop and his next CRP level decreases (indicating a lessening of the inflammatory response)
- prayers that the four of us are able to take some type of "vacation" prior to Zachary starting school in a few weeks
- prayers for health and strength for some family and friends....there have been some things happen to some loved ones (info that is not ours to pass along and really should remain private anyway) and they could use some extra support!
Thank you for the prayers. Thanks for caring and taking the time to read. We hope each of you remember the true beauty of the Fourth of July holiday and that it's not just about cookouts and fireworks. Stay safe everyone and remember to cherish Every Little Beat...
