November 22, 2009

Since Thursday, when we went in for clinic and Tanner’s hemoglobin was so low, we’ve been keeping a close eye on her for signs that it was dropping even further or that it was producing symptoms that made her uncomfortable. After asking me to take her to bed at 6:30 last night, she woke up this morning with a headache and was very washed out looking. We decided not to wait until tomorrow to take her to clinic, so John took her to the ER around 11 am.

They arrived home at 9 pm with fresh blood and platelets in her system, tired, but with rosy cheeks and red lips. Her hemoglobin had dropped down to 6.6 from 7.2 on Thursday (anything under 8 is grounds for a transfusion, but Tanner was not showing any symptoms then so we decided to wait) and her platelets were down to 28 (normal is somewhere around 300). So, two bags of platelets and one bag of blood later, she should be feeling a lot better. Her neutraphils have, thankfully, not dropped from Thursday, so hopefully those have bottomed out and will start going back up so she is less vulnerable to infection.

We weren’t surprised or too upset that she needed a transfusion; it’s almost expected during DI and Tanner has really been lucky that this is only her second transfusion since diagnosis. We’re just thankful that she hasn’t caught anything while her immune system has been so compromised the past few weeks.

The anemia didn’t slow her down a whole lot this weekend. Saturday, Jessica, our friend, babysitter and petsitter extraordinaire, came and played with the kids all afternoon while John and I cleaned out the attic and garage and went to lunch together at Puckett’s in Lieper’s Fork. We were playing at the elementary school playground next door to the house when Jessica got there and Tanner never slowed down until Jessica left. They danced, played wii, and pretended all the day long. I think Tanner was just happy to see someone else but John, Jake and I. It’s been a while.

After John and Tanner left for the hospital today, I shaved Jake’s head. He wanted to look like Daddy and Tanner. All those little curls in the trash can. He loved it, though! I thought it was so cute that he wanted to look like them.

Jake's new hairdo

It looks like it will be another “keep to ourselves” kind of week… at least until Wednesday when we get our next counts check. That will let us know whether we can see John’s family for Thanksgiving or whether we need to keep it simple here at home with just us. It would be great to see John’s family, but either way will be fine; the way I see it, we have a lot to be thankful for.

Love,
Beth