Last Tuesday Shad and left our house about 8:45 to pick up Kathy and Karen from the airport. We only had a little while before we had to drop them off for their cruise and get to the hospital for Shad's check up. Luckily we did have a little bit of time to visit with them while we did a Starbucks run, and then sat in the car to catch up. We figured out where to drop them off, and then Shad and I were off to the check up with the oncologist. I knew that Shad was low on something (either blood, platelets, or both) because of the way he had been acting. He was overly grouchy and would get angry really easy. He was a little more tired then usual, and a bit pale, but not to a point of being really concerning. They checked his vitals, Jo accessed him and drew his blood, and then we waited for the results. After waiting for a few minutes, the oncologist came and got us. We went into his office and he checked him over. After checking Shad out, he called Trevor and I closer, and told us to look at what anemia looked like. He pulled down Shad's lower eyelids, and they were very light. He shined his light into Shad's mouth and showed us the inside of his cheeks which were also very pale. He said, now we wait to see how bad it is (if he would need a transfusion or not). While we waited for the blood results the doctor let us know what the plan was for the upcoming week. We would see if he needed transfusions that day, and then would come for another follow up on Friday to check everything before the weekend. He wanted Shad to do a check in with the audiologist to see how things were going with his hearing before the next round, as well as another 12 hour urine test to make sure there is still good function there. He also let us know that we were going to do one more round before we do the next set of scans. We chatted a bit longer, and then a corpsman brought the lab results. The doctor took one look and immediately was like, well, he needs blood and platelets, and we will be admitting him to do the transfusions right now. We had expected he would need something, so it wasn't a huge surprise. We were admitted to the pediatric floor for the afternoon, and told we could leave once the transfusions were complete. It took a couple hours to get the blood products ready for him, and then we had to wait several more for them to transfuse (it takes 4 hours for red blood cells, and 30 minutes for platelets). We ended up being there for about 9 hours total.
When we got to the floor we noticed that Shad's friend Janae was there again, so I stopped by to chat with her mom and see how they were doing. It turns out Janae had had a seizure (or something like it) at the store the day before and had been brought in by ambulance. Her mom was very stressed by the event, and was having a hard time. I guess that Janae had turned blue, and was not breathing for a bit. No one at the store had helped, and her mom was very upset. She said that she thought she was gone, but thankfully she came out of it. I was kind of glad we were there because she had no car, and no clothes. I was able to give her a ride to the store to at least get a few clean things, and some food. It was really good for me too, it is nice to have someone to talk to who is really able to understand what I am going through. We talked about death, grief, making the most of each day, memories and treatment plans among other things. It really was wonderful.
Unfortunately I was a slacker and didn't take any pictures this day, but here is a pic I never posted of the last time Shad got platelets, we were in a room with a bed this time, but you get the idea.
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