Feb 22, Day +26 You give and you get

"Just the Facts"--  Still low grade fever, feeling tired, spent the morning at infusion, counts dropped a bit.

We were expecting the counts to drop.  That is what we were told to expect.  So, we are trying to not be too disappointed, but the platelets dropped back down to 17, which is crisis status when you are out of the hospital.  So B was infused today with platelets.  Red blood count came down as well to 8.6, which is almost a point lower, but still is close to the high when he was infused all last year, so he is walking around with the same level there.  The Whites came back down to 6.2 which is still respectable.  All this means is that the cells are working hard and still need time to produce to a point where they will hold. Medicines were adjusted somewhat and we were told by the big doctor that B was doing very well.  Going to the infusion center is a very exhausting day as you get there early and wait, have fluids drawn and then wait, get the response and wait to get set up to receive whatever was determined that you need.

Today, due to his recurring fever, they drew blood for cultures.  I had never seen this process before.  You know what a large Tabasco bottle looks like?  Well try filling 9 of those bottles with blood, then for good measure add 9 vials more for the rest of the testing.  Most of these came out of his catheter but one set needed to come from his arm.  Well that proved very trying and almost caused B to faint.  Daughter #1 who was with us for infusion center training, didn't fare so well.  She said she needed to leave, but didn't quite make it and in an instant went out.  Being that daughter #2 does this quite frequently, I have become very adept at handling fainters.  So we calmly rode out the episode until she woke wondering what the heck I was doing holding her.  We moved her to a matching recliner just like Dad and kinda laughed about it.  What else do you do?  Ice cream always seems to do the trick even at 9 am!  We continue to thank you for the much needed prayer, to help those little super cells to do their job.
Until next time,
Hopeful Believer.