So Monday afternoon (Dec. 20th) we went up to Grandma and Grandpa Hunters. Your appointment was at 8:30 and they were only about a half hour from the hospital (i think we live about an hour and a half) so we went up so that we didn't have to wake up as early. Aunt Kara and her kids and Uncle Seth with some of his kids were there so you had fun seeing all your cousins. The next morning we woke up and drove to the hospital. I told them that your petechiae (the microscopic bruises) had come back and you had been sleeping a lot again. Your petechiae was all over your belly, arms, legs, and face. The nurse practitioner looked at you and decided that they were most likely going to give you medicine that day so they were just going to give you an IV line and get blood from that. The nurse came in to do it and you threw a big fit. Me and another nurse were holding you down on my lap, while the other nurse was trying to get the IV in. Her first attempt caused your vein to explode everywhere. I looked down right at the wrong moment. I started to get really woozy. Next we tried to lay you on the hospital bed but i was getting so woozy that I had to go sit down. So then they wrapped you up and tried to get the line in again. You were fighting so much that the nurse couldn't do it. They tried 3 times and on the third time, they were able to get a little bit of blood but gave up on trying to get the line in. The blood came out very frothy so they weren't sure if it was going to be any good so they got my phone number. They said they would call me if it was bad, otherwise come back in 30 mins. We went down to the cafeteria to get you some juice and to calm you down, but i had just barely sat down when they called and said it was no good. I had to come back up. This time they just pricked your finger. You bled everywhere all over the stickers they gave you, all over your clothes, all over my clothes and all over the waiting room while we waited for the results. Every time I would get the bleeding to stop, you would start to bleed again. The nurse called us back pretty quick and we went in the room to wait for the Dr. He still didn't come in, just the nurse practitioner. She said that your level was 20. By this time you looked horrible. Your face had erupted in more petechiae from screaming and you had dried blood on you. I was trying not to cry. I asked why it had dropped so much. The Dr had originally told me that the medicine lasted 3 weeks and it had only been a week and a half. She said that it could be that you had never gotten a second dose. Apparently most kids get 2 doses their first time, 48 hours apart. You had jumped up to 26 so quick that they didn't give you a second dose. She said that the Dr. wanted to wait another week to see if you just would get better on your own. This really upset me. You had dropped from 38 to 20 in one week, what was to keep you from dropping down to 2. They sent us home with an order to get it rechecked the next monday.
We went home and did Christmas stuff (more on that in another post). Monday the 27th, Dad took you in super early (7a) so that we would get the numbers back early, in case you needed to go in that day. We waited and waited but no call. I finally called them around 2 and they said that they didn't have it yet. They would go find out what was going on and get back to us. They never called that night. The next morning I called them. They said that your numbers were down to 8 and made an appointment to come in on Thursday. Later that afternoon, I got a call from your pediatrician. She get a copy of all of your labs. She told me that your numbers were way down again. I told her that I knew and the Drs made an appointment for her on Thursday. She said she didn't like that and I needed to call back and get an appointment for that day (Tues.) or Wednesday. I called them and told them that Dr Buttan wanted you in earlier. They changed your appointment to Wednesday.
So that night we went up to Grandma and Grandpas again. Lots of your cousins were still there but I wouldn't let you play knowing your numbers were so low. We went to the hospital the next morning. They tried to just do an IV knowing you would need IVIG. Again, it was a nightmare. They tried holding you down, wrapping you in a blanket, everything. They were finally able to get some blood and half an hour latter we found that your numbers were 11. The nurse practitioner said that we had 3 options. We could wait (no way), we could try to do the IV again and give you IVIG, or we could make an appointment for you to get a bone marrow biopsy. Then they would look at your bone marrow and see if it was still making platelets. If they were for sure that everything was fine with your marrow, they could just give you oral steroids. I asked if they could just sedate you to give you the IV. She said that she would have to go talk to the Dr. about it. After awhile, she came back and said that we could do that. They gave you an anti-anxiety medicine and left for 10 mins to give it time to work. I got out my laptop and put Go Diego Go on for you. You just sat in my lap and watched the show the whole time. You could care less that the nurses had come back in and were looking at your arm. When they poked you you said "owww" and looked over but I said "hey look at the bird" and you were back to watching Diego. They got the line in and everything went smooth. However, it was close to noon by this time so they werent able to give you a full dose. They gave you a teddy bear that was left over from Christmas. You just laid there and slept for a long time.
You woke up for the last hour where you entertained the nurses by dancing to the wiggles. You kept forgetting that you were hooked up to the IV and you would start to spin. You kept getting so tangled up. We finished and they made an appointment for the following Monday to do a second dose. If you were looking better, they said to cancel the appointment and just get tested down in Porterville.
That weekend we had New Years (again, more about that in a different post) and then Monday the 3rd we took you in again. You were looking so much better so we just took you here in Porterville. Again, they didn't get back to me that day. I had to call them again the next morning and they said your numbers were 95 and that you didn't need a test for another 2 weeks. However, I noticed that Friday your petechiae had come back. I called Saturday morning and the on call doctor wanted you tested right away. I took you to the lab here and your numbers were back down to 41. She said to get you tested Wednesday. Wednesday (the 12th) your numbers were 54. That wasn't super, but you had gone up all on your own which was better than being 95 after medicine. They said to check you again in 2 weeks. So last Wednesday (the 26th) your numbers were all the way up to 89.
This is super exciting. You are going to be tested at the end of February, but it looks like you are getting over the ITP. This has been a very hard ordeal for you and for the whole family. Lots of prayers have been said on your behalf. The Lord has blessed us. Aside from a bit of bleeding and lots of bruises, you never had internal bleeding, or anything else super scary. I know that He was looking out for you.
I am happy that you get to go back to being a kid now!
I love you lots,
Your Mama
