I had a new nurse, Steven, who started freaking out yesterday afternoon because he took my temp at 99 and then an hour later I was as 102.9.

I have worked with 6 different doctors ranging from infectious disease, oncology, and pulmonology since I’ve been at the hospital since last Thursday. No one has been able to give me a straight answer until now as to why my fevers have been spiking twice a day. At this point they’ve gotten blood, pee, poop, and phlem from me to grow cultures from to see if any bacteria is in my system that’s causing my temps to get up to 103f. They’ve been in contact with my medical team at Mayo and everyone agrees that I cannot be discharged until my fevers are in check for at least 24 hours.

The cultures all came back negative for infection which has lead my doctors to believe two things:

  • The fevers are related to my chemo med bleomycin, there’s about a 50% chance for people to get fevers from it
  • The tumor cells are starting to fall apart and the fevers are my body’s way of dealing with it

On the second option, in a weird way it’s almost a “good” thing that my body is having fevers.

With this new information, my doctors have decided to give me a medication called Naprosyn for the fevers instead of Tylenol as it lasts longer and change up my IV anti-biotics as well to a pouch of liquid that resembles Mountain Dew.

I forgot to mention last week that I had to be put on a gout medication at Mayo during my chemo. It’s because once the cancer cells start breaking down, my body won’t know what to do with the extra uric acid, it would pool at my feet, and I could get gout. I had to do a special blood test for Asians for this medication because we’re not as good at processing certain enzymes in our livers. It’s actually related to the Asian Flush. Thankfully for Joanna and me, we don’t get flushed when we drink.

Here’s a funny scene from Fresh off the Boat about Asian Flush

Yesterday morning they had me do another set of xrays to check on the tumor size and make sure that no infection has spread in my lungs. I asked the doctor why they wouldn’t go straight for the CT scan as that would provide a more accurate picture and she said that she’d like to avoid continuously exposing me to that much radiation.

My good friend Daryl came to visit me later in the day. He’s also been my personal trainer, masseuse, and overall wellness coach. Daryl hates the fact that I’m drinking Soylent because of the soy base and so he brought me home made protein bars made of dark chocolate, butterscotch chips, walnuts, pecans, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, peanut butter, coconut flakes, and coconut oil. They were really good and exactly what I needed. I asked him about my body atrophying while I’m at the hospital and he said walking is the best thing for me and I shouldn’t do any lifting exercises outside of my normal realm of movement. He also suggested doing body weight squats or lunges as well. I can’t do pushups right now because I have an IV sticking out of my arm.

I had a bloodsucker come in to get my 2nd round of blood tests for the day. Her name is Taylor and was really nice, I told her about the horrible Indian lady from the night before. She asked if I had a picture and I showed it to her. Taylor said that she would submit a patient complaint on my behalf and that I should know the lady has a reputation about her. I thanked her and for not horribly stabbing me in the arm when she needed my blood. I mentioned that I have a cancer blog and she was really excited to hear more about it and read it during her upcoming lunch break. I ran into Taylor later that day and she said she loved the blog and that she shared it with a few co workers.

My friend Nick’s parents came over to his house yesterday bringing some Coke Zeros. He thought it was a funny coincidence that the bottle labels had Derrick and Andrew.

The doctors, nurses, and my friends are saying “sorry you can’t go home yet” because of my constant high fevers. Honestly I’m pretty content to be here. It’s a really nice room, I’m comfortable, I like chatting with the different hospital staff, and there’s less cleanliness rules to follow as opposed to at home. Even if I were at home, I wouldn’t be doing anything different. I would still be watching the World Cup, I’d still be blogging, and I’d still be on whatsapp with 5-6 people at a time.

The truth is that I’m really sick and I’m just waiting day by day until the 12 weeks of chemo are done.
I don’t think many people can relate to this kind of situation. An example I can think of is going on vacation. You plan and schedule a vacation to Mexico 6 weeks from now and you’re looking forward to it everyday. The difference is that you are waiting for the opportunity to get out of your normal life whereas I’m waiting to get back into it, if there even is a “normal” after all of this.

The other day I was watching random scenes from Breaking Bad and came across this one where Walt discovers that he is cancer free.

I totally lost it and started crying because I can’t wait to get that news about myself and for my dad too. Just need to be patient and continue walking down this road that has been set before us.