Weekly Check-up
Well, we spent most of the day today at the hospital. Kyler’s weekly check-up, which started at 10:30, turned into an all day affair after they discovered his platelet and hemoglobin counts were extremely low. Kyler was looking rather pale to his doctor and she was not surprised to learn how low his counts were. There is a nifty word for the condition when your immune system is so depleted (you have next to no white blood cells) that you are susceptible to just about anything – neutropenic. The number they use to mark the definition of the condition is 500. Kyler was at 600. Kyler’s last count before chemo started was 2300. At his first check-up after chemo it was 1400. Today it was 600. Those drugs really are effective at killing cells that rapidly reproduce. The good news is that he is up almost three pounds from last week!
They marched us right upstairs for him to get ‘typed and crossed’ (which sound much scarier than it really is) for a match to his blood type. We went to lunch while they prepared the blood and platelets and then we then spent the rest of the day sitting around while Kyler received it. Actually, I took Kendrick out for a while to run some errands and get some good dad time in while Kyler did his thing on the sixth floor.
It was getting to be 6:00 PM, we were the last people in the outpatient area, and the two remain nurses were very ready to go home. Unfortunately, just before Kyler finished receiving the last of the platelets he had a bit of a reaction. He said he was feeling very itchy and we found a few welts. The nurses had to stop giving the platelets and call the doctor to get orders for what to do. Fortunately it was nothing that a bit of Benadryl wouldn’t fix.
We got home just after 7:00 PM. It was a much longer day than I expected.
I’m hoping he sleeps well tonight because tomorrow he starts kindergarten. We had a chance to meet with his teachers and get them up to speed on what’s going on with him and start to get a game plan together. She seems really great. Kyler is excited because he has six friends already in his class from pre-school or the Lincoln Mom’s Club.
It’s good he got the blood and platelets today before starting school so he will be better prepared to fend off any bugs that might try attack him.
Please pray that his system recovers quickly and that he has a smooth transition to school. We have four more weeks till his next chemo treatment (September 19th).
They marched us right upstairs for him to get ‘typed and crossed’ (which sound much scarier than it really is) for a match to his blood type. We went to lunch while they prepared the blood and platelets and then we then spent the rest of the day sitting around while Kyler received it. Actually, I took Kendrick out for a while to run some errands and get some good dad time in while Kyler did his thing on the sixth floor.
It was getting to be 6:00 PM, we were the last people in the outpatient area, and the two remain nurses were very ready to go home. Unfortunately, just before Kyler finished receiving the last of the platelets he had a bit of a reaction. He said he was feeling very itchy and we found a few welts. The nurses had to stop giving the platelets and call the doctor to get orders for what to do. Fortunately it was nothing that a bit of Benadryl wouldn’t fix.
We got home just after 7:00 PM. It was a much longer day than I expected.
I’m hoping he sleeps well tonight because tomorrow he starts kindergarten. We had a chance to meet with his teachers and get them up to speed on what’s going on with him and start to get a game plan together. She seems really great. Kyler is excited because he has six friends already in his class from pre-school or the Lincoln Mom’s Club.
It’s good he got the blood and platelets today before starting school so he will be better prepared to fend off any bugs that might try attack him.
Please pray that his system recovers quickly and that he has a smooth transition to school. We have four more weeks till his next chemo treatment (September 19th).
| 10:11 PM
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