June 3, 2019

Friends,

The last 24 hours have been hard. Bo started to get a fever on Sunday morning (6/2) and we watched it slowly climb throughout the day. By mid-afternoon his temp reached 101 F.

Fevers are anticipated throughout Bo’s treatment and can come as a side effect of chemo, reactions to transfusions or meds, or in more serious cases, due to an infection. Our care team is regularly monitoring Bo’s vitals and temp throughout the day and night. When Bo develops a low-grade fever (less than 100.5 F) the protocol is to continue watching and monitoring closely to see if it will go down on it’s own or if there is cause for greater concern and treatment.

When Bo’s fever exceeds 100.5 F like it did yesterday afternoon, the greatest concern is that it could be due to an infection. His care team moved into action by drawing blood for cultures to check for bacterial infection and and also start him on antibiotics as a preemptive measure. It will take up to 48 hours to get results from the blood cultures to have more information on the possible type infection. If cultures come back negative but the fevers persist, they will begin to consider a fungal infection. Until then, Bo is on two different antibiotics and our team is monitoring his vitals extra closely.

Bo’s fever has continued to fluctuate, maxing out briefly at 104 F through the night. This morning is has been lower, even dipping down to 99 F. He had chills at one point last night and has also been tired and lethargic, while at other times he has been his sweet and energetic self. Please pray for strength for Bo, healing and resolution of his fever, and that the underlying cause of his fever is not an infection.

Unrelated to his fever, in the last 24 hours Bo has also needed his first transfusions of red blood cells and platelets for this hospital stay. This too is something expected as part of his treatment as the chemo reduces his bone marrow’s ability to create any new healthy cells on its own. Bo has a regular blood draw every morning to monitor his blood counts day-to-day and it lets our care team know if he is in need of any transfusions. Bo will receive many more transfusions throughout the course of his treatment, especially when we get to the phase of bone marrow transplant.

As much as fevers are anticipated, they are not welcome and feel scary. Will you pray for us as we walk with Bo through these harder moments? Most of our days feel light and smooth, but these times feel heavy and worrisome, especially as we wait for answers. I pray our faith is strengthened and that your faith is encouraged. Your prayers bring us so much comfort.