Transfusion – again!

PHOTO: Check out the OSU Scrubs! (Thanks, dear Laura!) Soooooo cute!

Having my aunt (and my Godmother) here has been an incredible blessing! Today Christi’s blood counts informed us that she needed another platelet transfusion. I also learned that her LDH has unfortunately jumped up by about 160, ugh! I had tried to brush off her comments of off and on headaches over the past three days, but sadly the LDH is “the indicator” for Christi and I am just ill about what it most likely means. Receiving the print out of the blood counts had me page Nurse Practitioner Pat with my questions.

Q-How does the Nulasta know when to turn off? Her white count is now 9 and her ANC is nearly 6,500! (Wow!) Unfortunately, with that one injection she’s now experiencing leg pain, rib pain and the shortness of breath. (“Mom, I think I’m just too big for my lungs. I can’t get enough air.) A-“It stops working when the white count rises and it should be stopping now.”

Q-What does the LDH level going up so soon after chemo mean? A-“It means I’m glad we’re starting chemo soon.”

Q-When? A-“As soon as her platelets are coming up on their own.”

Q-How is that determined? A-“She needs to keep them up to 20 on her own for one week after a transfusion so we won’t know until Monday if she can start chemo on the 20th or not.”

Q-Can we go home on Wednesday after her MIBG scan and meeting with Dr. Maris and get any blood and platelet transfusions she may need at home and be back in school on Thursday and Friday? A-“I’ll talk with Dr. Maris, but I don’t see why not and after you find out her counts on Monday we’ll know if we can start her chemo maybe on Wednesday the 22nd instead since it is going to be the hard hitting chemo again that needs to be done inpatient. You could go to school and work for two more days that way too. I’ll email you after I hear from Dr. Maris.”

So that’ where we stand! Today Aunt Marty treated us to the “Curious George” movie which we all highly recommend. Tonight we shall make Buckeye candies and Christi will probably finish wiping us out in the Monopoly game we started last night.

As always, prayers appreciated! Although not unexpected, today’s blood counts and new reports of headaches bring me tremendous sadness.