Darn. I wasn't expecting this to be the next post. I was expecting to say that we're done, but that was before shingles. And Acyclovir.
Acyclovir is an anti-viral medicine that the doctors started Kaitlyn on as soon as her shingles were diagnosed. Viruses pretty much have to run their course, but there are some anti-virals that can shorten them and lessen the intensity which is especially important in immuno-compromised patients like Kaitlyn. Acyclovir works great! Her shingles were not painful or itchy and they were drying up quickly. Yay!
But last Saturday Kait started having some pain and other issues. On Monday morning she was continuing to feel miserable and her labs (they draw them every day now looking for a bump in white cell counts) showed an irregularly high level in her creatinine which is an indicator of kidney function, so she was wheeled down to ultrasound. Sure enough when the results came back they found that her kidneys were swollen and inflamed ("insulted" they said). A nephrologist came to consult on the issue and guess what "insulted" Kaitlyn's kidneys--Acyclovir! Sigh.
The good news is it's an easy fix--stop the Acyclovir. The other good news is that her counts haven't "bumped" yet, so all of this hasn't really delayed anything. The bad news is that since her white cell counts haven't bumped it's risky to stop the Acyclovir.
Where oh where are you White Blood Cells?
So close and yet...
ReplyDeleteWishing for the best for all of you.