Back in the Hospital

Shirley was readmitted to the hospital last night.  In my last post, I mentioned that she needed a transfusion a week ago Friday.  She was feeling poorly after that and made an ER visit on Tuesday where she was treated for dehydration and released after a few hours. 

Over the weekend, she continued to have abdominal issues and ran a low grade fever.  She also started throwing up, which is one of triggers for calling the doctor. He advised to go to the ER again, and after a round of tests, it was decided that she needed to be admitted.

Only ten days after a two-unit blood transfusion, her crit levels were again too low and another two were needed.  It is the "why" that is going to keep her in the hospital for next several days.  There are several potential causes for anemia that need to be investigated:

1. The fever that she has had may have slowed blood cell creation.  But this is unlikely to be the source, as the fever only started recently and was not evident ten days ago when the first transfusion was given.
2. Internal bleeding is another potential cause. But Shirley hasn't been exhibiting any signs that this is the issue. They have decided to do both an endoscopy and colonoscopy to make sure there are not any G.I. issues that are contributing.  
3. Drug reactions.  Several of the drugs Shirley takes--including her anti rejection drugs--can interfere with blood cell creation.  A Hemotologist who met with her today suspects this is the most likely issue and the hospital is reaching out to the transplant team to see about at least temporarily suspending one of the drugs to see if it resolves the issue.

They are also doing some additional tests to rule out some more exotic and rare potential causes. 

I'll be doing daily posts until Shirley is released and we have some answers to these questions.