Fever, possible infection post treatment, please help!

itsmecarol

Hello,

My aunt just went through her 4th session of chemotherapy in early December, and for a week after treatment couldn't shake off a fever of over 100F. She was admitted to the hospital shortly after that, and for the past month has been treated with two different antibiotics (over a period of 2 weeks).

She has been back home for the past couple of days and the fever is back, we are unsure what to do. She has another doctor appointment tomorrow morning. Have we just not gotten the antibiotics right? Has anyone had something similar happen?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

bobogirl

Hey there Carol:

It can be so distressing to have this happen! You are such a good niece to take care of your aunt.

I have had a similar situation in the past (though not related to chemo). I had two pretty bad infections treated in the hospital with several different antibiotics.

I know your aunt has an appointment tomorrow morning, and it can be tempting to wait... but I would go with her to the ER. There is a good chance they will admit her tomorrow anyway. If it is an infection (new or same one), I wouldn't let the infection 'fester' (can't think of a nicer word!) overnight. The doctors need to culture it in order to figure out which antibiotic to use, and they may not have done that successfully yet.

Your aunt is lucky to have you! I'm sending you hugs.

linzer

I had a fever during chemo due to a sinus infection. Since my blood counts weren't low, they allowed me to march on and continue treatment on an antibiotic. It's so difficult because values dip when on chemo and sickness comes on easily. At the same time, as a patient you don't want to "get behind" in treatment. I felt lucky to have been able to keep on track with treatment, but I am otherwise young and healthy so it wasn't hard for my body to catch up and heal. good luck to your aunt!

Moderators

Carol-

First, we want to welcome you our community here at BCO. We're sorry for what your aunt is going through, but we're glad you've found us, and hope you find this to be a place of support and advice.

Chemo leaves the patient so vulnerable to illness, so unfortunately, infections are not uncommon. It could be a lingering infection that the doctors already tried to treat, or it could be a new one. Either way, we agree with Bobo in that your aunt should go to the ER tonight, rather than wait for her appointment tomorrow, so doctors can culture the infection and begin a new course of antibiotics that will (hopefully!) be more successful.

We hope your aunt starts to feel better soon, please let us know how she's doing!

The Mods

lori__s2015

I sure do hope everything turns out well. I had a similar experience a couple months ago. High fevers. I ended in the hospital for a week and then on home IV antibiotics for a month. It turned out the port had become infected. My doc took me off chemo for awhile to let my body heal. Like I said I sure hope she's doing better.