Faster than Batman…
Hayden is going through a growth spurt, still teething and then on Monday night bleeding in his ear and mouth. When I checked on him I saw blood around his mouth and one ear full of blood, and bedding too. I immediately thought he is bleeding internally but once I turn on the bigger night light, I saw he had cut his lip and ear.
I clean the blood up with a tissue. His ear wouldn’t stop bleeding so I applied A&D ointment on it until it stopped. He must have grabbed at his face (feeling the teeth pain) and it was enough to cut himself, even with short nails.
Tuesday morning I decided to call Day Treatment to move the platelet transfusion up a day from Wednesday. Since he was at 30k for Monday’s count, he must be near or below 20k a day later. It worked out since Grandma had her own appointment later Tuesday afteroon, I only have to take off for Tuesday pm and then for this Thursday vs. Tues, Wed. and Thurs.
So, Tuesday afternoon we went for platelets, the nurses and I each gave our guess at where his platelet count would be, Denise said 12k, Tammy said 16k, and I guessed 20k. I was right on! I think this transfusion was the fastest one we have ever had. We got there at 1:05, had vitals taken, was given Benodryl and Tylenol together (worked well, since Benodryl has a bad taste to it-good thinking Tammy) and was hooked up to his line before I even had his toys out on the bed. Could it be because he had his BATMAN outfit on?
We were done and waiting out our hour (reaction waiting period) by 2:30! Those platelets were not only very red, but they were FASTER than Batman!
The redder the platelets, the better luck we have of them lasting a whole week-my theory! The truth of the matter is that the platelets expired at 2:30, so the nurse sped them up just a bit to make sure we were done by then. No danger to Hayden at all, since he has never had any reaction from his transfusions! Thank goodness!
kb