Elijah Update: Sepsis

Elijah continued to have a high fever overnight but this morning his fever has been around 99-100 degrees. They sent blood cultures from both lines of his hickman central line yesterday and bacteria grew from both lines. He has sepsis and they are treating him with strong IV antibiotics. It will be a waiting game as they allow the cultures to grow and tailor his treatment based on what they find. They are hoping not to have to pull his line because he still needs it. Most kids wouldn't need a line by now but his counts have not been where they should be. We would most likely need to have them replace the line. This gets tricky because Elijah has had so many lines that there are very few sites on his body available to place a new line in.

He remains in good spirits and frankly, you wouldn't know that he was so sick. He did tell me that he feels better than yesterday. His head and his hands feel better, he says. I am sure he was incredibly achy and had a headache when his fever was so high. Yesterday, he told the doctors he was feeling great. I wish he could be more accurate with telling us how he feels at the time he feels it. But, It is amazing to watch him be able to tell me how he is feeling..if he is scared or hurting. This is incredible progress and it makes me so proud of him. He has come a long way!

It has been so nice to see old friends from the bmt unit. Everyone remembers him and he has felt more comfortable seeing so many familiar faces. It was a flawless transition to resume his cares from home to the hospital. Elijah is a complicated kid on lots of meds...to have a smooth transition of care is saying alot!

So, now we are in another waiting game. We wait each day to see what grows in the cultures. He will be here until there is no bacteria showing in his line or bloodstream. I am so thankful that he got to the hospital when he did. Sepsis is a serious complication for post transplant patients and treatment needs to begin asap. Last night they were hopeful that this was just a virus. It's definitely not a virus.

God has allowed us to feel His presence so strongly throughout this whole journey and He has given us a special amount of grace and peace throught this new challenge before us now. We are fully relying on Him. We are confident that He is in control of all things...and we will continue to look to Him as Elijah's body fights this infection.