Some of the instructions Jordon received prior to leaving were home care. The usual oncology discharge instructions we receive almost contradict the ones we receive for a surgical discharge. So even though in some way Jordon is still under the umbrella of oncology care, for the next few weeks we will contact the surgical doctor on call with any questions. So while a fever was alarming before, it is almost expected now. In fact, Jordon continuously runs a low grade fever. If he uses his spirometer, the fever goes away instantly. Even though it is time consuming and causes him some discomfort, since leaving the hospital he has used it routinely. He is on top of his home care. They told him pneumonia was a concern and using the spirometer would lessen his risk. Another thing is that his oncology doctors do not want him to use medications that may "mask" a fever (tylenol). Since Jordon's pain and discomfort is expected to continue for a couple of weeks they have prescribed him a pain medication with acetaminophen. Of course, when the nurse comes on Monday and takes his blood, if Jordon's counts are down any fever would need to be handled as before, with a trip to the ER and masking a fever would be a major concern. The pain medication Jordon was on in the hospital worked ok for pain but made him emotional. The medication they sent him home on seems to work a little better and with less side effects, but the main concern being the fever reducer. So in effort to not mask a fever, prior to administering his medication, we take his temperature.
The spirometer also works well in encouraging Jordon to cough and sometimes the coughs are productive in getting any remaining fluid/blood in the lung. I did call the surgeon on call a couple of times and they confirmed that this is all normal, and in fact they are glad to hear that he is using the spirometer so frequently and it is doing its job.
Jordon slept much better last night than he did the night in the hospital. I think it is a combination of a less anxiety causing pain medication and that his pain is not near as great as it was in the hospital. He is more mobile today (in fact he wasn't at all in the hospital) and he has even been able to play a bit of video games (I didn't expect that to take long). He is still favoring his left arm (no constant bouncing of a basketball-which has been nice), but they did indicate there was some tearing of his left side muscles and healing will take a while. All in all Jordon is doing VERY well from the amount of trauma his little body just went through. Thank you for the prayers.
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