Fever -- in the morning, fever all through the night!

I'd been on the antibiotics for four days and I was still one hot mama. Fever in the morning, afternoon and evening, spiking almost exactly 5.5 hours after I'd taken a Tylenol. I'd now been bedeviled by fever for 11 days. I was really worn out. And, judging by my constant thirst, I suspected I was losing the battle against dehydration.

Dr. B. had me come from my office right to hers on Friday. I had more blood work done -- additional blood cultures and a white blood count -- which was fine. The cultures would take 48 hours or more to determine if any new bacteria had developed. My blood pressure was 110/70 and I was thrilled. My BP had been running higher than normal (which used to be around 120/70) since I'd been sick -- and not working out was also a big contributor, I'm sure. While the 110/70 seemed good news, it was actually an indicator that I was pretty dehydrated.

Dr. B. was frankly stumped and tempted to put me in the hospital. The urinary infection was pretty mild and the antibiotic she had prescribed should have taken care of it and most any other infection that might be lurking within. My lymph nodes in the throat area were a little swollen, but I had no other symptoms of anything going on, beyond the returning temperature. She wanted me to have another CT scan of the lungs to see if the nodules or scar tissue that showed up in an earlier scan showed any signs of change.

And what if the CT scan comes up with nothing, I asked her. She replied that she would then send me to an infectious disease specialist. She couldn't treat what she didn't know. I understood that, but I was starting to get nervous about this. What if something sinister was cooking inside. An undiscovered tumor? I really wanted to be able to hang a tag on this fever inducer and get it shut down.

Dr. B. said she was tempted to put me in the hospital, but decided to give me a bag of fluids to counter the dehydration. She also canceled my 4th and final chemo treatment for the following Wednesday and asked me to just come in and see her on that date to determine how I was doing. If we couldn't get this under control, then maybe we'd just stop and end the chemo with three treatments. Or, if the fever went away, then we'd reschedule for the Wednesday after.

After I was rehydrated with the fluids, the nurse took my blood pressure again. It was 140/80. I had a new understanding of how dehydration affects blood pressure.

I scheduled the CT scan for first thing Monday morning. How bizarre that that same morning, the Chicago Tribune ran a big splashy feature on the dangers of CT scans and compared its supposed low-radiation effects to that of years of radiation exposure. And this was my second one in less than two months.

I figure in another year, I'll be a human night light.

If I was going to glow in the dark, I sure as hell better end up with some kind of an answer to the fever mystery. Fair is fair!