Hannah's Test Site

Again, mixed results from our clinic visit today. All of her counts were up some except for the hemoglobin, which was down. So, we had to stay for a red blood transfusion. This is the long one. We left the house at 7:30am this morning and got home at 7:30pm. It takes 3 hours to transfuse the blood, since it has to be done very slowly. It also takes a while to get the blood upstairs, it has to be typed and crossed to be sure it matches Hannah's blood and all the antibodies too. Our appointment today was at 10am, they started the transfusion at 2pm. Hannah got in a couple good naps, so that was good!

However, her platelet count was only up to 34 (from 11 last week). Her platelets have to be up to 100 to get chemo this week, so the doctor said to expect a delay. Another delay. We are creeping closer and closer to that Christimas date. Frankly, I can't see any way that we will be done before Christmas but I don't want to tell her that yet. We'll just keep on going because one day it has to be over.

Hannah has been having foot and leg pain when walking. It started last week, and at times is pretty bad. She is limping quite noticeably and it hurts to walk. The doctor today said it was probably due to the Neupogen shots she is getting every day. She has been on it for quite a while now. She got a shot today at clinic (although she always makes me give it, even at clinic) and will get one more shot tomorrow. Her ANC is pretty good, so hopefully this time when we stop the shots it won't drop again until after treatment. I did notice today that when I went to give her the shot, they had prescribed more than twice the dosage she has been getting at home. It was still an acceptable dose for her, but it was the WRONG dose. Again. They had prescribed an acceptable dose for her, but didn't check what she had been getting. They changed it.

Going to try school tomorrow and see how it goes. And, oh yes, Way to go Red Sox! Do you want A-Rod?

xoxo Kim