Monday, April 09, 2007

Day +151 Inpatient




WBC 7.5

Platelets - 291
Hemoglobins - 5.7 (VERY LOW)

ANC - 4875
Weight 25 lbs 7 ozs
Height 32 inches

We got to hospital as usual this morning and had labs drawn then headed up to the HemOnc Clinic. The first doctor we saw was a Med Student. He was asking the usual questions which I said all is well and then he simply said I see she is jaundice. And I said "She is?" She does not look any different to me. Later on Dr. Wilson said that because we see her everyday and are use to her coloring we did not notice it but she did look a slight bit jaundice. Well after the med student left another doctor came in and asked how she was acting and checked out her vitals and said her Hemoglobins (Red Blood Cells) where very low. So they drew more blood and decided to do a blood transfusion.

This ended up being a very long day. They ended up (since her central line is out) having to stick her twice to get an IV in. Then we waited. They were looking for either signs of Graph Vs Host disease, her anti-rejection medicine attacking her red blood cells, or autoimmune hemolytic anemia. All her other numbers looked good except a slight raise in billirubins (sp?) which can be caused just by the destruction of the red blood cells.

Finally around 1:00pm they came in and told me she had the anemia. They said this is very treatable but that they needed to get on it quickly. So since they already had the IV in they decided that inpatient was the best route to go.

So we got to go home and grab some stuff and headed back up here around 3:00. It is 6:15 now and they just started her on steriods (Methylprednisol) and will take it every six hours. They are having to specially screen the blood to find some that she can not break down as easily. They said we might not have any until tomorrow. The doctors where just in and said this probably going to be an issue for awhile. They will try weaning her off steriods but they said alot of times as soon as they start that her body will start attacking the red blood cells again. So this will be another day by day adventure.

Gabe and Ethan are with their dad for the next two days at least depending on when we are released. Say a prayer and we hopefully will be back home Wednesday.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

sorry to hear the news. good luck and know we are thinking of you.

the vespes