Hair Cut

The wonderful nurses at Mercy told me to “bring her right in” when I called them at 7:00 this morning informing them she’s been in pain and says she is having difficulty breathing and that she needed to have her counts checked. I sent Shayla to school (Thanks, Caroline!) and left with Christi for the hospital.

I thought perhaps things were improving as Christi watched “Clifford” instead of curling up in a ball as she’s been doing; however, as soon as it was over she wanted the lights out and just wanted to listen to me read. They drew her blood and via flashlight I started reading Hoot by Carl H. – highly recommended, which I did for hours today. (Still at the hospital nine hours later, my sweet Heidelberg / OSU friend who stopped by ending up reading to her by flashlight too! Thanks, Lori!)

Blood counts revealed that her white count (ability to fight infection) dropped down from 1.7 in the ER Friday night to 1.1 today. With her eyes still closed she asked, “What’s my ANC?” and cried so hard learning it was still zero (meaning more shots). Her platelets were down to a mere “9” (They were 24 on Thursday which required a transfusion, up to 45 on Friday night) so platelets were ordered and a loving volunteer was called to drive to Toledo to bring them back for little Christi. (Praise be to God there are compassionate people who volunteer doing good things for others on this planet!)

While waiting for her platelets I called “The Cuttery Shoppe” to see if Cindy could possibly come to the hospital to cut off Christi’s hair as she just seemed too weak to make it to her 4:30 appointment. (In the end we were still at the hospital at 4:30 anyway.) I don’t know how Cindy did it without crying, I was a near mess but Christi now has a very short hair cut – which shouldn’t be around much longer. (Thanks sweet, sweet Cindy for doing that. You are an amazing actress!!)

Christi continues to be in a lot of pain; therefore in the past few hours we’ve made a big decision. Tomorrow the two of us will fly to Philadelphia with hopes of figuring out what this pain is. I’m hopeful a CT scan of her chest will help figure this “rib pain” and “I can’t breathe” and “My lungs feel only like the size of baseballs.” And “I’m out of breath.” Out. My Mom will fly in from Florida to help me with Christi and the wonderful Mr. Grant from Philadelphia is willing to pick us up at the airport which gives me great comfort.

I’ve called her teacher to see if she’d have their valentine pass out in the morning, but I really question if Christi will be able to make that. She’s so weak and uncomfortable. Tonight while resting with her in our bed she said, “I just wish this was over so that I could eat. I am so hungry.” It’s been about a week since she’s really had a normal amount of food. She’s eating small bites, but that’s all. It’s hard to believe one short year ago she was playing, “Happy Birthday” on the piano for Shayla and she then spent the afternoon entertaining us with her lovely background piano music. It’s heartbreaking.

As always, your prayers are appreciated during this most challenging of times.
Angela