Chemo pyrexia

blog understudy reporting again.

G has had another rough day and his temperature is up a bit high so they are checking him out for potential infections and have prescribed what the doctor called a domestos antibiotic (should kill 99.9% of all known bugs). The other explanation is a reaction to one of the cocktail of chemo drugs and they call it Chemo pyrexia (fever). They will keep him in hospital until they have got the temperature under control and are happy about his progress. He had a really severe headache today and they have prescribed some painkillers so I hope this will help him get some sleep.

As G was a bit out of it, I took responsibility for ordering his food for the next couple of days (I could be in trouble if he starts feeling better tommorrow). Hospital food hasn't improved much from what I could read and they still serve jelly, tapioca and sausage cassarole- no wonder people dont feel well in hospital. I think Jamie Oliver needs to get involved following his success with school dinners. We are not allowed to bring him in food in case we pass on any infections which is a pity as Holly (the cooker) had made a wonderful supper as follows:

Poule au Pot

I free range chicken
8 peeled shallots
8 carrots roughly chopped
2 leeks roughly chopped
1 neep chopped into 8-10 chunks
4 sticks of celery
10 cloves of garlic
3 litres of stock
salt and pepper and herbs to season (thyme, bay leaves and tarragon)

Place chicken in large pot add stock and bring gently to the boil. Add all the vegetables and simmer gently for about an hour. Turn off the heat and leave for another 30mins. Serve in large bowls with french bread and a decent glass of chilled white burgundy or ribena.

We hope G will get to come home soon and we can help him get his spirits and energy up again. He really enjoys getting messages from people so thank you all so much for sending texts etc. He has not been well enough to respond over the last few days and we hope he may improve a bit tommorrow as the chemo treatment is over and they are now treating him for the side effects. My sister Dot (cancer nursing specialist) was quite reassuring tonight as she has said this is quite a common reaction for patients undergoing this treatment as it is very severe. I hope he may be able to sleep a lot of this off and that he will feel somewhat better tommorrow.

I'm off now to chase the children into baths and get hair washed, nails scrubbed, pencils sharpened as it is first day back at school/work tommorrow...and alarm clocks set!

Good night.

Lee