Journal entry by Brianna McLeod Harn —
Mike started feeling less than great on Wednesday the 26th of June, following that things seemed to get progressively worse. He was feeling a bit "off" but he chalked it up to stress, McKenna had just been sick, and carried on as he does.
Symptoms increased and with his dad's funeral service coming up on Saturday, he plowed through how terrible he felt. He was having extreme fevers that ended in buckets of sweating though shirt after shirt, which then turned into teeth chattering chills and shakes. Nothing was appetizing to eat for the past few days and he felt dizzy at different times with back pain. After the service on Saturday, he went to bed and slept until late Sunday morning. Feeling slightly better for an hour, he played with the girls and was awake a bit.
When the girls and I got home from church to check on him, he was sleeping hard, sweating massively and I woke him up. He was dizzy and a bit loopy/acting strange. We spoke with his radiation doctor at MD Anderson and she advised us to get in to the doctor. After speaking with our local urgent care team, they said this was an ER visit matter vs. urgent care.
Where they do radiation as well as having his kidney drain, he is prone to UTI infections due to the current situation he experiences. He had already had one, when he was coming home from Houston but had finished his medications. We thought this was probably another one but didn't know if it had turned into something else.
After getting settled in at the ER, they tested his urine and blood and found bacteria in the urine as well as white blood cells. Thank God there was no infection in his blood, which would have been a kidney infection that could lead to sepsis very quickly. SOOOOO thankful that it was caught and managed before that.
He was able to get an IV drip of antibiotics as well as an IV drip of fluids. While we were there he experienced both the high fever of 104 and then back down to the shakes and shivers. Awful. He was very fatigued and feeling terrible and was able to get some good sleep the next couple days.
Each day a little strength comes back and slowly he is feeling a bit better after the infection. Pain seems to be a massive issue right now. The neuropathy that was caused from the chemo from last year, is really quite awful for him. He describes it as thousands of pins and needles constantly stabbing his feet at all times of the day. There is no relief or comfort in his feet. He has tried a lot of methods to alleviate this but, so far, nothing is helping. As tough as he is, the silent weight of carrying all the pain, discomfort and heaviness of this situation are a constant 24/7 for him.
Symptoms increased and with his dad's funeral service coming up on Saturday, he plowed through how terrible he felt. He was having extreme fevers that ended in buckets of sweating though shirt after shirt, which then turned into teeth chattering chills and shakes. Nothing was appetizing to eat for the past few days and he felt dizzy at different times with back pain. After the service on Saturday, he went to bed and slept until late Sunday morning. Feeling slightly better for an hour, he played with the girls and was awake a bit.
When the girls and I got home from church to check on him, he was sleeping hard, sweating massively and I woke him up. He was dizzy and a bit loopy/acting strange. We spoke with his radiation doctor at MD Anderson and she advised us to get in to the doctor. After speaking with our local urgent care team, they said this was an ER visit matter vs. urgent care.
Where they do radiation as well as having his kidney drain, he is prone to UTI infections due to the current situation he experiences. He had already had one, when he was coming home from Houston but had finished his medications. We thought this was probably another one but didn't know if it had turned into something else.
After getting settled in at the ER, they tested his urine and blood and found bacteria in the urine as well as white blood cells. Thank God there was no infection in his blood, which would have been a kidney infection that could lead to sepsis very quickly. SOOOOO thankful that it was caught and managed before that.
He was able to get an IV drip of antibiotics as well as an IV drip of fluids. While we were there he experienced both the high fever of 104 and then back down to the shakes and shivers. Awful. He was very fatigued and feeling terrible and was able to get some good sleep the next couple days.
Each day a little strength comes back and slowly he is feeling a bit better after the infection. Pain seems to be a massive issue right now. The neuropathy that was caused from the chemo from last year, is really quite awful for him. He describes it as thousands of pins and needles constantly stabbing his feet at all times of the day. There is no relief or comfort in his feet. He has tried a lot of methods to alleviate this but, so far, nothing is helping. As tough as he is, the silent weight of carrying all the pain, discomfort and heaviness of this situation are a constant 24/7 for him.
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