2 Month Clinic

Erin and I went to Primary Children's for her 2 month clinic today.

We were a little early arriving at the lab to draw her blood, but it turned out being great because there weren't any other patients there so we got in very fast.  Erin is seriously ONE TOUGH GIRL!  I am continually in awe at how much she understands about what she has gone through and about what she still has to do.  She is amazing! 

They draw her blood by sticking her on the top of her hand while I hold her so she doesn't squirm too much.  Our family is a little odd in that all three of our kids absolutely hate band-aids.  The band-aid is usually worse than the shot or needle stick.  So of course, when the nurse slapped a band-aid on Erin she promptly ripped it off which resulted in blood dripping all over her pants, my pants and my hands as I tried to stop it from spilling out of the open hole in her hand. 

Tangent here: I have been trying to donate blood recently.  I usually am very successful at this as I have been donating blood for 14 years now.  But, lately it hasn't been working.  I went last week for a blood drive.  They rejected me once they looked at the inside of my elbows.  They said I had too much eczema in the area where they would stick me with a needle.  I rarely have eczema, but that day I did have it and they didn't want to stick me and possibly contaminate the donation.  So now after today, I have to add that I have "been in contact with someone else's blood" to my list of reasons why I cannot donate at this time. 

Back to the clinic visit. We got to the Hematology/Oncology Clinic a half hour early, but they got us right in.  We were the only ones in the waiting room.  I love getting the last appointment of the day, everyone is so relaxed.  We chatted with our nurse and then with a UofU Medical student about a new study that Dr. Fluchel (our Primary Oncologist) is doing about "Factors Contributing to the Burden of Childhood Cancer Treatment on Patients and Their Families".  I am really excited to participate in this research study.

We visited with Dr. Verma for almost 30 minutes.  I love her so much!  Erin showed off her ballet skills and told Dr. Verma her "knock knock" joke I shared in my last post.  We had Erin's sore checked out and it's bigger than it was at her visit last month.  There are so many unknowns about this sore.  I think that time is really going to be the biggest factor here.  We just have to wait and see what comes of it.  Hopefully it is just a bunch of scar tissue that is chronically inflamed and soon it should start to absorb back into her body and eventually she shouldn't have any scar or sign of it.  That is our hope.  If it continues to flair up and gets bigger than we'll be back to doing ultrasounds on it to monitor what is going on.

We met with Dr. Fluchel and he is really happy with Erin's progress.  She only has to take the Septra (anti pneumonia) for one more month!  Wow, to be free of all antibiotics! 

Labs from 2 Month Clinic

White Blood Count 4.7 (normal 6.0-17.0)

Hematocrit 38.6 (normal 34.0-40.0)

Platelets 202 (normal 150-400)

ANC 2200 (normal 1500-8500)

Previous Labs from 1 Month Clinic

White Blood Count 5.3

Hematocrit 37.9

Platelets 218

ANC 2900

P.S. For the last 30 minutes of our drive home, Erin told me 100 or more knock knock jokes.  I wish knock knock jokes had never been invented.  She was getting really creative with them.  For example,

Knock knock?
Who's There?
Pick from any of the below:
Tree, toes, mountains, snow, two trees, hair, car, hospital, Mom, Dad, Erin, Dr. Verma, orange, lettuce, banana.