Alyson’s Journey

Run Down on the Past Few Days

• Birthday on Saturday was awesome. Cake from the Hospital, cake from the Nurses, Pie from Gina and a present from Child Life. Upon awakening, the following exchange occurred.

me: Happy Birthday Alyson!
Aly: Did I grow?

• Saturday’s blood culture was positive for a staph infection. However, it’s the kind normally found on skin. So, it’s a probable contaminate but she’s on another antibiotic to be safe.
• Sunday’s blood culture was negative.
• Monday’s blood culture was negative. The boys stayed home to give Bradyn a break from the drive.
• Tuesday was a visit from Grandma Geri. Alyson is feeling great, so we’re in the playroom all day. However, her ANC is essentially zero.
• Wednesday Bradyn and Geri stayed home and I went yarn shopping. It was nice to leave the hospital for a little while but I sure missed Alyson by the time I got back.
• Thursday/Thanksgiving was excellent. A wonderfully kind family was stuck in the hospital 10 years ago for Thanksgiving. They brought Thanksgiving Dinner to their son and shared it with the staff. He’s now a healthy 26 and they still bring dinner with all the trimmings for the 7th Floor. Turkey, ham, stuffing that was amazing, cranberry sauce, pies galore, four cakes, real mashed potatoes, real turkey dressing, rolls, fresh fruit, veggies and a few other things. I’m stuffed.

What’s the Plan?

We’re still waiting on her ANC to go up. She was at 23 today. Her monocytes are on the rise as are her platelets, hemoglobin, lymphocytes, and eosinophils. Her APC was over 200 which is an indicator to the docs that her marrow is starting to recover. We may be discharged tomorrow but I feel it’s highly unlikely. Her CBCs are being pulled a few hours later than normal to give her that little extra time to get those counts up.

Whenever we are sent home, it will be with Alyson on two antibiotics. The first is an oral liquid. The second is through her butterfly/port with a pressurized device called a home pump. There are different volumes and different rates of delivery. The tube end connects to Alyson’s line. By simply unclamping the pump’s line, outside air pressure begins to compress the “grenade” which injects the antibiotics into the kiddo.