Here is some news we just recevied tonight on Maila -- please keep her in your thoughts and prayers ~
MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2008 11:18 PM, CDT
Okay well we’ve hit a bit of a speed bump. We’re not sure what kind of speed bump it is yet. As I said, no news is good news yet here I am posting an update.
I took Malia into clinic today because last night she looked, well, let’s just say not great. Her color was definitely getting worse and she has been increasingly crabby…although she has been for a while now. Anyway, I was pretty certain that she needed a transfusion so I took her in. We were also kind of hoping that in the process of checking whether she needed blood or not that they’d discover that her ANC was high enough to stop the Neupogen shots. Well her hemoglobin was very low so she definitely needed blood but unfortunately, her ANC was very low as well. It was only 44! That is the lowest it has ever been and that was also with 11 days of Neupogen shots! She’s never had that much before so this round definitely knocked her down pretty hard. Basically she has no immune system at all which is very nerve wracking because any fever spike can send you to the hospital. Now I guess with a blood transfusion, it’s not uncommon for people to spike a fever so they gave her some Tylenol in clinic before the transfusion and she did very well. Her body temp was normal before during and after. Things were going as they should; it was great to see her lips pink! J.So, we came home and she was acting peppier (is that a word?) and seeming very comfortable but then right about bedtime she made the comment that she was getting cold and had the chills. Immediately I knew – we took her temperature and sure enough, it was just over 100. Now the protocol is that if they have a temp of 101 you go immediately to clinic or the ER depending on the time of the day. If it’s 100.4 twice in one hour then you call the “on call” and they will most likely tell you to go in. Anyway, I didn’t wait and I called and spoke to the Oncologist. She told us to check her temp again in an hour and if it was the same or increased to call her back. Well Malia was visibly uncomfortable so we took her temp before the hour was up and it had increased to 101. I called back and they said to bring her in but we could give Tylenol before leaving home to help keep her comfortable. While I was packing and getting ready, Kyle took her temp again and it had jumped to 102. Oh CRAP!
We’re here in the ER now and they are giving fluids and antibiotics. She no longer has a temperature and they have already taken blood to test for an infection which I’m praying will be negative. We won’t find out until tomorrow whether an infection has been ruled out or not. Even if there is no infection, however, she will not be released until her ANC is rising because she is at such a high risk. The positive so far is that they did another CBC here in the ER and her ANC is already up to 200 so it seems she’s on the upswing which makes sense because, as I said, she’s had eleven (11) days of Neupogen already. Either way we will be here in the hospital for at least another day or so.Pray that she does not have an infection and that this was just a reaction to the Neutropenia (lack of neutrophils in the blood which is one of the main numbers used to calculate the ANC).
We’ll keep you posted.
Love to you all!
I took Malia into clinic today because last night she looked, well, let’s just say not great. Her color was definitely getting worse and she has been increasingly crabby…although she has been for a while now. Anyway, I was pretty certain that she needed a transfusion so I took her in. We were also kind of hoping that in the process of checking whether she needed blood or not that they’d discover that her ANC was high enough to stop the Neupogen shots. Well her hemoglobin was very low so she definitely needed blood but unfortunately, her ANC was very low as well. It was only 44! That is the lowest it has ever been and that was also with 11 days of Neupogen shots! She’s never had that much before so this round definitely knocked her down pretty hard. Basically she has no immune system at all which is very nerve wracking because any fever spike can send you to the hospital. Now I guess with a blood transfusion, it’s not uncommon for people to spike a fever so they gave her some Tylenol in clinic before the transfusion and she did very well. Her body temp was normal before during and after. Things were going as they should; it was great to see her lips pink! J.So, we came home and she was acting peppier (is that a word?) and seeming very comfortable but then right about bedtime she made the comment that she was getting cold and had the chills. Immediately I knew – we took her temperature and sure enough, it was just over 100. Now the protocol is that if they have a temp of 101 you go immediately to clinic or the ER depending on the time of the day. If it’s 100.4 twice in one hour then you call the “on call” and they will most likely tell you to go in. Anyway, I didn’t wait and I called and spoke to the Oncologist. She told us to check her temp again in an hour and if it was the same or increased to call her back. Well Malia was visibly uncomfortable so we took her temp before the hour was up and it had increased to 101. I called back and they said to bring her in but we could give Tylenol before leaving home to help keep her comfortable. While I was packing and getting ready, Kyle took her temp again and it had jumped to 102. Oh CRAP!
We’re here in the ER now and they are giving fluids and antibiotics. She no longer has a temperature and they have already taken blood to test for an infection which I’m praying will be negative. We won’t find out until tomorrow whether an infection has been ruled out or not. Even if there is no infection, however, she will not be released until her ANC is rising because she is at such a high risk. The positive so far is that they did another CBC here in the ER and her ANC is already up to 200 so it seems she’s on the upswing which makes sense because, as I said, she’s had eleven (11) days of Neupogen already. Either way we will be here in the hospital for at least another day or so.Pray that she does not have an infection and that this was just a reaction to the Neutropenia (lack of neutrophils in the blood which is one of the main numbers used to calculate the ANC).
We’ll keep you posted.
Love to you all!
1 comment:
Oh, my.....will certainly be praying for Maila. My heart goes out to her and her family.
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