Saturday, December 6, 2008

Transfusion, Surprises and more trips to Sloan...

Hi everyone....

Yesterday was a long day... and when I say long I mean looooong... one of those days where you swear someone stops everything and everyone but you and your 24 hour day becomes at least 2 days long.
We had to be at Sloan at 8:30 so we left Rockaway at 7. For the entire almost 48 hours from our chemo treatment to the time I had to get to Sloan on Friday I was praying and hoping that Mike's levels were going up with the Neupogen so that he didn't need a transfusion. We got there and had to do a finger stick. He hates that. I don't know that it's the actual finger stick that he hates or what but I think it's more the being held down part that he hates. Whatever part it is, the finger stick is not fun. The good part is that Sloan gets the blood work back in about 15/20 minutes so there is really no long period of uncertainty. Unfortunately, 15 or 20 minutes was all it took to be called back to the Dr and be told that his numbers dropped again, even on the Neupogen and he would be needing the transfusion. Yesterday his counts were (if you need a reference to normal levels the chart is on the right of this page)- WBC 2.9, HGB 7.5, platelets 280 (again, the only good one!), ABS Neut 0.5. So to say his numbers were crappy is an understatement. :(
I always knew a transfusion was a serious thing but I don't think I ever realized how serious the reactions could be. They gave him Tylenol (by mouth since he can't get a suppository) and an antihistamine since the blood products can cause a fever or an allergic reaction. I had never known that you could have an allergic reaction to a transfusion.
It took over 2 1/2 hours for the blood to come up from the blood bank! It was insanity! Mike was so tired by then and they had to wait until right before they hung the blood to get a blood pressure on him so they could use that as a baseline for during and after the transfusion. So, we kept him up because he hates his blood pressure being taken. I swear he silently gives the nurses the finger when they walk in with that cuff and tell him, 'It's ok, it's just a hug'. LOL
So, anyway, they finally hung the blood at 12:24... I think he was asleep by 12:45. I was able to talk to the nurses and Drs and they all feel that between the transfusion and the Neupogen his levels should come back by Monday.
Mike woke up around 2:45 and was done with the transfusion around 3:30. We were able to pack up and head home after that! :) Of course, he wanted to play in the playroom before we left so Dad got the car and met us downstairs so Mike could play for a few minutes before we left. :)
We got home and he was asking for dinner so I fed him... then I went upstairs to get changed. When I got back downstairs around 6 or 6:30 my phone rang and it was Matt. He immediately asked for Katie. All of a sudden she got this HUGE grin on her face... and got up and ran to the window. She started laughing and yelling "Daddy's here, Daddy's here!!" And sure enough, he was standing outside. It seems that he was so upset with Mike getting the transfusion and being neutropenic that he wanted to come up so he made last minute plans (and when I say last minute, I mean Friday morning he made the reservations) with free flights that were offered to him on Jet Blue through someone's Jet Blue card (We can't thank you enough!!) so he is here for the weekend. He is coming up next weekend too but next weekend we are going to see his family and spend the weekend upstate so this weekend is just for relaxing and making sure Mike is ok.
Next week I am going to post all of the information about donating blood for and in Mike's name at Sloan. I have to write my e-mail now and I will post it here after I send it out. Donating blood is such a wonderful thing to do... there are so many patients at Sloan who need it, and many of them are children. But I will save my blood donating campaign for it's own blog. :)
Well, that's all for now... I will update over the weekend to let you all know how Mike is doing and definitely on Monday after we get home from Sloan. Hopefully I will be telling you all that his numbers went up and that he didn't need a transfusion!! For now, we are all still praying and hoping that he feels good and that the chemo is working!

Please continue to keep Mike and our family in your prayers!

Love to you all,
Chrissie

2 comments:

Camber Mechele said...

I swear he silently gives the nurses the finger when they walk in with that cuff and tell him, 'It's ok, it's just a hug'. LOL

LOL! I'd give them the finger too if they said that crap to me!

Lucinda said...

Chrissy, I'd love to donate blood for Mike. I'm O+ which is supposed to be used for lots of blood types. I used to donate all the time before I had the boys. I'm thrilled that I might be able to help out in this way! keep me posted on when you have it set up!