Days #2 & #3 of Hospital Visit

Thursday brought some of the lowest numbers Ellie has had since she was diagnosed with Leukemia. Her ANC was around 200 and her platelets were 5,000. Ellie was moody and irritable the entire day, but it was mostly uneventful until Ellie received her platelet transfusion that afternoon. Her doctor wanted her counts checked 1 hour after the infusion and then 4 hours after the infusion just to make sure that her body was getting the boost that it needed. Well, after the hour check, Ellie's platelet count was only at 11,000. It should have been much higher. For some reason her body was not accepting the platelets.

Good Morning!
It's not going to be a good day!

There are very few things that Ellie can control in her life right now.
Looking at the camera is one of those things.
So, more often than not, she will not let us take a picture.

She did perk up tremendously when Mike arrived later that morning.

She smiled long enough for a picture.

Ellie has another rhino virus (I think she has had one continually since diagnosis), so it's likely that she is rejecting the platelets because she is also trying to fight off this cold. Her little body has way too much going on, and simply cannot handle it all. She spiked a fever that night of 101.5. I know that may not seem high, but since I'm now paranoid about anything over 100.4, that was a bit scary. Turns out, since we know she has the rhino virus, and that is the likely source of her fevers, the doctors and nurses aren't too concerned if she has a fever. However, she cannot go home until she has been fever free for at least 24 hours. 

Ellie spent most of that day in my lap on the bed.

Platelets were needed again on Thursday night, but since she has not been reacting positively to them, we opted to forgo for the time being. There are other options, which we ended up exploring on Friday. Since Ellie has not been eating much since Monday, it was decided that she would start that same night on TPN and lipids, basically complete nutrition through her IV.

Friday morning did not look much better. Her counts were still very low, and it was determined that Ellie would get both a blood and platelet transfusion that day. The platelets would come first, however they would be volume reduced. From what I understand, this means that the platelets are washed of anything excessive. It's strictly platelets entering the body, which make it easier on the body to accept.

Friday was a little better, in that she didn't have to constantly be glued to my side.

Ellie received the volume reduced platelets just fine, and then started on the blood transfusion. Because of the long process, Ellie was still getting blood into the early evening, when all of a sudden she spiked a fever. 101. They stopped the blood, waited, and then restarted. Another fever spike. 102.6. This was definitely not good, especially since it was happening during a transfusion. The blood was immediately stopped, and the on call doctor was on the phone. It was determined that the fever was likely caused by the rhino virus and not the transfusion. However, it would be stopped for the time being. Ellie was given Tylenol and slowly her fever came down. 

These two days were exhausting. 

Another random thing to mention, Ellie is constantly "picking". Picking at her skin, her stuffed animals, her blanket, me....anything. She did it when she was first diagnosed and in the hospital, but I chalked it up to all of the medicine she was on, specifically the steroids and chemo. But now, she is doing it again, and not on either of those types of medications. Something is causing it. Maybe it's just her way of coping with anxiety that she feels while in the hospital? I don't know.