TAKE 3

It is said that the "third time is a charm" and today I certainly hope this is true! Yesterday, Mason was admitted to the hospital for the THIRD time in a month! That is a new record for Mason and his incredible journey. It's almost like a game of ping pong between Primary's and home right now, but a real game of ping pong would be much more fun! 

Why was Mason admitted again? Fevers!! Saturday night he had a fever of 101.5, Sunday day no fevers, but then Sunday night about midnight he spiked a fever of 102.5. With that fever on Sunday night into Monday morning the pain in his back seemed to increase horribly. Monday Morning he also was not able to come off of his night time oxygen (he's been on night time O2's for sleep apnea since November). He just needed 1/4 a liter of O2 to keep his sats up above 92, but still another sign that his body is not feeling well. 

After talking with the Transplant team on Sunday about the fever they told me to bring him in Monday morning to clinic. They said to have a low tolerance for fevers right now. So we were there by 9am. Mason's blood work showed an elevated white blood cell count and CRP level, which are both signs of infection in the body. This in and of itself was enough reason to admit Mason. He was feeling so crummy that I agreed this was the right thing to do. 

The good news is that yesterday's chest x-ray looked pretty good (meaning these are not pneumonia fevers) and his echo also looked great (so fevers would not be due to rejection). The question is then......is there really an infection in his back around the rods? Or did 

Mason coincidentally pickup a new bug that caused the new fevers? 

Today Mason's fevers are gone, without the use of antibiotics (no antibiotics were started in case the Orthopedic team decides they need to reopen to culture and clean out any infection around his rods because this could mask the infection) and he seems to feel much better.....so we all don't know what to think at this point! Except we all know Mason likes to throw curve balls. And Mason's blood work today shows elevated infection markers still.

Orthopedics is still not thinking there is an infection from the surgery because his incision doesn't look very bad, but we did go home to "watch and wait" for more fevers or any other signs of infection just as they said the plan was last week. Fevers came back, so here we are again! The general pediatric team, transplant team, and the infection disease team also continue to remind Ortho that being immune suppressed Mason's incision may not ever look too bad even if there is an infection going on inside. We are waiting on blood culture results still, but other than that Mason shows NO signs of the infection being anywhere else.

After talking with Mason's Ortho surgeon tonight the new plan is to take Mason into the OR on Thursday to open up his incision and look for infection. If tomorrow's blood work shows a drastic drop in his infection markers then we will re-evaluate if we want to do  something that invasive and aggressive about this possible infection.

For now, I need PATIENCE as we wait and decide if  this is what needs to be done. Mason needs COMFORT as each day's blood draw time comes and the trauma of trying to find an un-bruised vein to use. (Poor little guy has horrible vein access.) My family needs to know how very much I LOVE them as we are once again apart. 

"The lessons we learn from patience will cultivate our character, lift our lives, and heighten our happiness." ~Dieter F Uchtdorf