My husband has cancer and I'm really struggling

What a relief. Are you getting anywhere complaining about the negligence of the other doctor?

I am so glad to hear of the improvement.

1 Like

That is what sepsis does. Overwhelming inflammatory response and it shuts organs down.

I am so glad he is doing better.

3 Likes

@Kyrabee Sepsis is the scariest thing ever!!! So fast and so dangerous.

@Annie10, my husband wanted to wait until this ordeal is over and he is discharged.
I have emailed this Dr since we started with him in May- chemo updates, questions along the way, etc. Since my last email Thursday saying he was septic and at the ER I have not heard a peep. He’s has his minions doing checks too and hasn’t even been to see him. Sad.
I have a lot of mixed feelings and don’t want to make waves but just so many people have seen the obvious oversight.

7 Likes

I’m so glad to hear that he’s doing better. Thank you for the updates and more jingles being sent your way :heart:

2 Likes

You won’t hear a peep from him at this point. He’s looking ahead at any litigation or anything else that may happen now since he royally effed up and he knows it. I can understand your husband wanting to wait until he’s out of the hospital though that makes sense

4 Likes

Twh, how is your husband? Hopefully still
Improving?
How are YOU?

2 Likes

Today they aspirated the fluid on his abdomen after they did a repeat ct scan. They are culturing it and testing the fluid but it was clear yellow vs pus so that’s possibly a good sign?
I was at least present for infectious disease Dr and the Hospitalist visits.
Hs cath was capped and he is now voiding using the neobladder every 2 hours, then they scan the bladder to see how much urine is retained. He’s been doing well with that.
Creatinine is hanging around 2. Most other lab values are normalizing. Everything is trending well. What needs to be determined is the cause of the fluid- surgical fluid or abscess. I’m hoping for surgical so let’s jingle and pray for that!

16 Likes

Oh, and me…well, work was great and my boss said just take the week and don’t use pto, even though I’m not working at all.
I’m mostly doing okay. I get one decent meal at the hospital (for $8, guests get a tray!) and other than that I drive back and forth, take care of the kitties and find some cheesy horror flicks to pass the night with.
That’s not a great long term plan but it’s okay for now.

19 Likes

I developed sepsis a few years ago when I was fighting pneumonia.

I went from not too bad considering a week of pneumonia to Oh scrap hospital NOW over an hour. I think if I had tried to deal with it at home I would have been dead fairly quickly.
My lungs were filling with mucus and I had a temp of 102.2 I spent 4 days in the step down unit at our local hospital, then 3 more in another room

1 Like

I’m glad to see he’s doing so much better.
Sounds as though you have a good boss.
Make sure you eat properly and take care of yourself, he needs you to be his advocate at the hospital and he will really need you once he’s released.

2 Likes

I’m home alone yet and keep getting panicky at night, thinking back to last week, hoping and praying he would be there when I I woke up.
Did you have any residual issues processing your sepsis event? I am definitely having trouble processing and it’s crazy how many people don’t even understand how fatal sepsis can be. I’m not sure I fully grasped it until I saw some of his results and diagnoses start rolling in.

Urology removed his final suprapubic cath and he’s doing really well with the neobladder so far. They kept him in patient while they firm up coordination of his outpatient iv antibiotics with a hospital closer. Tomorrow they will put a picc line in and originally antibiotics were to go through 11/7, however, ID Dr decided to go through 11/21 out of an abundance of caution.

8 Likes

It’s hard to say.

It turns out that I got pneumonia because my immune system was damaged. I didn’t know it at the time I have leukemia and I got pneumonia a few more times in the next few months. I think if I didn’t have the cll I wouldn’t have been getting the pneumonia. The pneumonia caused lung damage which makes me more susceptible to pneumonia. It’s a vicious cycle.

I wonder if my doctor had been more aggressive treating the pneumonia I wouldn’t have lung damage.

It was scary though. I don’t remember much of the first three days in the hospital.

5 Likes

Hubby came home Friday, so almost 48 hours ago. We are doing his IV antibiotic infusions at the local hospital and that has gone well the past two days. He looks and feels so much better. He made scrambled eggs and French toast when we go home and ate. So good to see.

Still has follow up ct to monitor the post surgical abdominal fluid but no bacteria or fungus was found so that’s excellent. Hopefully his body will reabsorb it.

I was thinking about his urology surgeon and that he could have/should have checked urine, temp and bloodwork at his follow up, but if we had done that and the sepsis wasn’t pronounced enough to have caught attention vs the uti we knew he had, then maybe I would not have gotten him to the ER. Maybe I would have been falsely reassured. So maybe, things went exactly how they were supposed to go. I have to believe that since he’s sitting with at home with me now. :heart:

26 Likes

:heartpulse::pray:

5 Likes

TWH how are you doing?

Hi,
Mostly okay…I did go back to work. Also back to my therapist. Husband continues on daily iv antibiotics. We have follow ups this week with oncology and next week with infectious disease and surgeon.
He is feeling stronger- doing some light chores around home.
I will feel better when the antibiotics are done and I know he is done with that part.
Kidney function is still a bit of an issue so praying that heals and no nephrologist needs to be added to our growing list of specialists.

15 Likes

@Bogey2 thank you for asking! I’m worn out but it sure puts a smile on a persons face when someone reaches out. Life is hard sometimes.

10 Likes

I have a friend who dealt with her husbands cancer (brain) and know it was a tough couple of years for her. He is doing fine now and we have them over for dinner once a week to help get them back to something normal. She had some anxiety issues and sought counseling as well.
Hoping the rest of the year goes better for you.

4 Likes

Hugs to you TWH. I do think of you often, although things have been crazy and i haven’t been over here as much lately.

3 Likes