Ruby's counts continue to climb (her ANC is over 100 now), and her cultures continue to come back negative for any growth or signs of bacterial infection, but the doctor on-call wants to keep her another night, just in case.
I get it. It's the safe way to go. But I'd be lying if I say I didn't internally swear when he told us.
I usually try to pick my battles with the doctors and nurses, since I know there will be many things I feel strongly about that are not in line with their protocol. Once he said we would be here at least another 24, I pushed for Ruby to be taken off of fluids. I've asked both nurses and the doctors on call about it, since she wasn't dehydrated and she was drinking and eating fine, but the answer has come back that it's 'standard protocol'. If we're here for a 48-culture watch, I can do that. But longer than that calls me to be a mama bear. Especially when Ruby was up the entire night (I do mean that - at least once/hour) with a full FULL wet or dirty diaper and a diaper rash that made her scream and cling to me like a baby monkey every time I changed her. Thankfully the doc said, "Sure....she's having a great output so she doesn't really need to be on fluids." That's one of those 'shake my head' moments, but I'll save that for another blog post.
So for now, Ruby's ANC is still on the rise and she is coughing less, but we are here for another 24+ hours. I did take her out to the garden as soon as they unhooked her at noon so that she could run. Due to the 4-lined hook up system she's been on, I have not been able to let her walk around and play at all. (Imagine walking 4 dogs at once...I swear it seems like the four lines of fluids all had a mind of their own and they were all different lengths!) She had a blast playing with the leaves on the ground and she completely wore herself out. The sunshine and fresh air did both of us some good, for sure.
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