Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Day +11: Return of The Nose Bleed

Sarah had a rough night last night. She developed a nose bleed around 2:30am. Susan and I noticed new bruises and petecheia on her legs and head late in the evening. We pointed them out to Sarah’s evening nurse and said she probably needed a platelet transfusion, but the nurse did not actually give Sarah the transfusion until after her nose bleed started. That was a little irritating because we think the nose bleed could have been avoided. Normally a nose bleed is no big deal, but when you’re in Sarah’s shape things spiral out of control pretty quickly. This is the second time she went low on platelets and developed a nose bleed. The progression is something like this: nose bleed followed by vomiting from blood in her stomach followed by coughing and sore throat (on top of existing sore throat) then wheezing and then an x-ray to her lungs to make sure wheezing isn’t pneumonia. It made for a long night.

The goods news was that the new x-ray looked better than the first one. We don’t think there is any pneumonia concern at this point. No fevers today either. Sarah’s bottom is beginning to look better (after the skin breakdown from diarrhea).

The folks at Ronald McDonalds House put us in an apartment today. It is intended to bridge the gap from leaving the hospital to going home. We are not sure if we are going to stay there after Sarah is released from the hospital or make the drive from New Hampshire 2 – 3 times a week. The apartment will be a big help for now though. Only 4 people can stay overnight, so we plan to have some of the children stay there with one adult.

No real signs of engraftment yet. Sarah did have an Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC) of 60 yesterday (Day 10), but until her counts are checked again Thursday (Day +13) we really can’t say the engraftment has taken hold. We’ll post an update on her ANC Thursday evening. She needs to have an ANC >500 to be able to be released. We definitely do not expect that this week, but we are hopeful about next week.

Thanks for your prayers and concerns and help. Please continue to keep Sarah and our family in your prayers.

-Ben

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Susan and Ben, Just wanted to let you know my family and I are still very much praying for Sarah. We love you!
The Reif Family

Anonymous said...

Hello Ben and Susan,
So sorry that Sarah has had to deal with more nosebleed. When Michelle had them, the staff used Afrin spray to help get them under control. Surprisingly, it worked well. We are praying that Sarah will reach engraftment soon. Your updates bring back so many memories from our time there with Michelle. We really relied upon the prayers of others at that time and believe that prayer is the reason that we are blessed by Michelle's presence each day. I know prayer will do the same for you and Sarah.
I will be bringing Michelle to Boston for a full day at Jimmy Fund on Tuesday next week. I would be happy to transport some of the children there to you and/or back home that day. I will have at least 4 seats available in the van. Is there anything else that I could bring down to you? Call me or e-mail me when you get a few minutes.
Sending Hugs and Prayer,
Donna Oaks