I had my first blip on the worry radar. I came home from work with chills and a fever of 101.5 oF. My oncology nurse told me when that happens, to call the doctor on-call and go to the hospital. Why is a silly fever such a concern? My immune system is being torn down by these chemo drugs (an unfortunate side effect) so fighting infections is like Delaware declaring war against the U.S. Sorry, little friend, it's not going to end well.
We called the doctor and he said to take Tylenol and go to bed, and if I still had a fever in the morning (I didn't) to go to the hospital. *phew* Got through that one. Then I noticed how much it had worried my friends (they were ready to drive to my house in the middle of the night and take me to the hospital themselves), which got me thinking about how to manage other people's worry.
Thus was born... the "Cancer Threat Levels".
Cancer Threat Pink: All is good
Cancer Threat Yellow: Slightly elevated worry (i.e. fever), no hospital visit, being monitored
Cancer Threat Orange: Elevated worry, going to the hospital
Cancer Threat Red: Hospital admittance, get your butts over to my bedside and take care of me
"Worrying is like a rocking chair. It'll give you something to do, but it won't get you anywhere. Write that down."
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love your threat warnings and just happen to LOVE rocking chairs....no wonder i haven't been to the Taj Mahal :))
ReplyDeletewhy are you picking on Delaware? what'd it ever do to you?
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