I know you want to see the WBC and ANC numbers. I understand. After they draw the blood at 4am for the CBC and differentials (for the one or two people who haven’t seen an episode of ER, Grey’s Anatomy, or St. Elsewhere for that matter – and I am pretty sure General Hospital never mentioned a real test of any kind – CBC stands for complete blood count) I am chomping at the bit waiting for those numbers to come back. I want them the second the results are posted. On the couple of occasions when we’ve gotten the CBCs but not the differentials (that’s where you see the ANC) and they needed to draw more blood and send it to the lab, we’ve climbed the walls waiting. So, I’ll tell you the numbers…………..without making you wait too much longer.

Rafaella started to develop a cough a couple of days ago. We thought itchy throat, a little mucus build up, no big deal. But the cough has gotten progressively worse, more frequent and having a “wetter” quality. The coughing usually precipitated a vomiting session. That triggered our third visit to CT for a scan of her sinuses and her chest. Being the weekend, the pediatric imaging was closed so we had to go to the adult room. In the pediatric room, they project a “Nemo like” fish tank onto the inner walls of the CT machine for the kids to look at and enjoy. They also have other toys for distraction. All of this helps tremendously. Needless to say they don’t do this in the adult room. Turns out we were worried for no reason. Even though Rafi was visibly nervous, she held still and allowed the techs to take pictures of both areas. It takes a special person to be able to disregard their fear of a situation and carry on.

The days are mixed at this point. There are highs and there are lows. She is still febrile and needs to be held and then she wants to paint. The swings are immediate, there is no transition period. The nights unfortunately are long. Jackie usually gets the worse of them, but not tonight. Every twenty minutes can’t come fast enough. I am glad that I slept earlier in the evening because it is now 3:30am and I’ve been up with her for the past 3 hours. She is very uncomfortable and has been passing stool and urine frequently. I am assuming she is cramping quite a bit based on where she tells me it hurts and how her body is convulsing. Every twenty minutes she can have another additional dose of the fentanyl. She had her last bump 25 minutes ago.

I just found out that she needs more platelets tonight. That makes three times in 24 hours. They’ve increased the threshold at which it triggers a transfusion. Basically, it means she gets more transfusions and in addition to normal vital checks, you have 3 more to do, at the beginning of the transfusion, after 10 minutes and then after an hour. We think the increased platelets has helped with those blood blisters that didn’t drain. Since we increased the platelet threshold she hasn’t had one of the non draining blisters. So we got that going for us.

The results from the CT scan all came back negative so that’s great news. I think it is enough of the American Idol waiting game for you. Her WBC was .7 and her ANC was .3.

I have to go and do some vitals now, then again in 10 minutes and again in an hour. I am going to try and get some sleep for 45 minutes or so while I can. Until next time.