So what happens when a person undergoing cancer treatment goes to the emergency room worried they might have coronavirus? As many people in the SurvivorNet community are concerned, the editors thought it could be helpful for me to explain how we take care of these patients. Hopefully, knowing the specific medical protocol can help demystify the process, and maybe lessen the anxiety.
First Step On Arriving At The ER
- CBC ( complete blood count) with differential: this tells the white blood cell count ( is there leukopenia or neutropenia?), if the person is anemic (does the person need a blood transfusion?) and if the ability to clot blood is ok ( is the person bleeding easily?).
- Complete Metabolic Panel (CMP): this checks all the electrolytes (like sodium, potassium, kidney function and blood sugar) as well as liver function.
- Blood and urine cultures: Bottles and vials of blood and urine are sent to the lab to see if any bacteria are growing in them that might be responsible for an infection. If bacteria is found, tests are run on it to see what specific antibiotics works against it. Cultures can take a few days to grow; it is not a same day test.
- Other tests can be added on like a flu swab, stool tests, etc. COVID-19 cultures are sent based on whether a person meets testing criteria by the CDC. The purpose of this work up is to find the fever source. Sometimes, the answer is not immediate. So, many protocols include giving a dose of broad-spectrum, intravenous (IV) antibiotics. Broad-spectrum antibiotics cover a broad range of bacteria to treat everything that it could be. The antibiotics can be narrowed down or stopped once the culture results are known.