Little Scare

Yesterday Abby started coughing and running a low-grade fever. We weren't initially concerned, but as the day wore on and she began to demonstrate marked tiredness and lethargy, we began to wonder if something was up. I also noticed later on in the day that she looked kind of pale. We were expecting she would need a transfusion--she has needed one after every chemo.

Sunday at about 10 AM we took her temp and it was over 102 F, prompting us to page our oncologist. He was already on the floor at BDMC, and told us to come in right away.

Her labs revealed a neutrophil count of 0, and extremely low hemoglobin and hematacrit levels, as well as low platelet count. Dr. P immediately ordered 2 units pf packed red cells as well as platelets. Her pulse had been really high and thready, indicating her poor little heart was working really hard pushing around what little blood she had left.

Amy and I had decided she would take Abby in and I would join her later. When I arrived at about 4:30 PM one of our favorite nurses on the unit surprised me by saying "your little girl looks SO much better--I couldn't believe how pale she was when she came in!" It's embarrassing, but when you are with your kids all the time you sometimes don't notice gradual changes like what happens when counts fall off after chemo. I knew she didn't look "right", but also didn't want to create an unnecessary trip to the hospital. Next time I think we will err more on the side of caution.

She's already had one unit of the red cells and is working on the platelets now, and is taking a Benadryl-induced nap (they often give Benadryl with transfusions in case of allergic reaction to things in someone else's blood).

Dr. P is optimistic that this might be only a 2 or 3 day stay, depending on how she responds to the antibiotics.

Please pray for us. Specifically pray this will be a short hospital stay and Abby will tolerate all the blood products she is getting. Please pray for me as well--my job has the potential to be very stressful this week.