Today was a "Good News, Bad News" day. The good news was that Kinsey's red cells were up a bit. The bad news was that her platelets were down to 17,000. The good news is that red cell transfusions take 4 hours; platelets only 30 minutes. The bad news is that they special ordered her platelets (fresh), thinking the problem with the last transfusion might have been "old" platelets, so it took six hours (thank God for Aunt Ann who watched Jillian all day and made Kinsey her favorite best Aunt Ann egg sandwich as soon as we got home). Audrey almost finished reading the 2nd Harry Potter book to her. We had hospital cafeteria food. We worked puzzles...several. And she laughed so much several medical personnel commented, "Look at those dimples!" They'd never had an opportunity to see them as she'd never smiled in there before. She was wonderful there for all six hours and even expressed sympathy for the other screaming kids (ones getting poked who didn't have a broviac, ones who were afraid). She acted like an ol' pro, even correcting the nurse about the position of the BP cuff and ear thermometer. She was especially nice to Nurse Lori (the one she punched on Saturday) even though Nurse Lori spilled a few platelets on her, knocked the syringe off onto the floor once, and was a little messy with the blood coming out of the broviac (which wouldn't have happened had she not accidentally pulled the tube from the IV bag).
Kinsey woke with a fever this morning, but after two different doses of Tylenol, it hasn't come back. Also her blood culture and throat cultures are still negative. They will watch them for three more days. But for now, she doesn't have to go back until Thursday and we are assuming the platelets were bad, not her reaction to them; that the rise in red cells from 7.7 to 8.6 might mean she's making some and not destroying them, and that the fever was a mild virus she's now over. Overall, more good news than bad today! And she had enough spunk this evening to knock the spoon full of milkshake and crushed pills out of my hand, spit out enough of the "worse-than-Coke" medicine out on her shirt that we had to redose a bit, and correct us when we tried to change her bandage. Three women (Audrey, Ann, and me) working on one little girl with peanut butter, milkshake, ice water, honey and meds in hand and then gauze, tape, tegaderm, betadine, alcohol, scissors, a syringe, gloves, and a vial and she definitely got the better of us. Our nerves are a little shot, but as I read this, I can hear her laughing downstairs and requesting another egg sandwich. She came up earlier to read and respond to her emails. She loved that! She talked; I typed. Overall, definitely a good day!
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