Rollercoaster

The last few days have been a rollercoaster and not the fun ones that Eric enjoyed at Disney World. 

On Wednesday he had a platelet transfusion because his platelet count was only 18. They decided to stop his current treatment; there was only 4 days left and the dr says its done what we wanted it to since his white blood cell counts are wiped out and its probably the cause of all this nausea and tummy pain. Though he did also have a tummy xray just to check everything is normal in there (it is). They also did all the swabs and samples today (all negative). Eric was lethargic most of the day, but no fever after about noon. 

On Thursday Eric was feeling so much better, though his hemoglobin appeared to have dropped substantially from the day before. After some bloodwork to rule out nefarious causes, the doctors decided that his hemoglobin count upon arriving at the ER was probably inflated due to dehydration. That makes sense to me as well because Eric was having headaches which he gets with low hemoglobin and I was quite surprised to see the number in the ER. So he did receive a blood transfusion on Thursday which usually makes him very energetic. Unfortunately that didn't happen and before bed he started to feel super nauseous, threw up his evening meds and got diarrhea. And then he got a wicked headache too. We ended up awake until midnight because of the vomit and headache and meds for the headache, which then made him itchy, so waiting for Benadryl - ahhh! Oh and just for fun, some blood popped up in his urine, making us wonder about a UTI causing the fever. Granny came by for a visit and took our laundry away to wash it for us. She came back with clean laundry, snacks and Pokemon cards! Thank you Granny Joan! 

On Friday morning Eric woke up feeling awful - tummy pain, nausea, headache. This time he took Benadryl before the headache med so didn't get itchy and his headache went away, but despite all the meds, the nausea would not go away. He ended up throwing up and there was some blood in it. His blood counts came back and both his hemoglobin and platelets were low so he had both blood and platelet transfusions. He was so sad to be feeling poorly today after feeling better on Thursday, but he did start to feel better through the afternoon. Unfortunately he also started seeing things, like sparkles on his blanket, images on flat surfaces, the bathroom flooding, streamers falling from the ceiling. The dr came and assessed him and believes it is from "poly pharmacy" - too many different meds all at once. Jill came by for a visit and brought a "picnic" lunch, some snacks and a mango for Eric's mango craving! Thank you Jill!

Saturday morning, Eric woke up feeling great and not seeing things - yay!!! His blood counts are good too! Daddy came by for a visit today. Kathryn brought us coffee and donuts and took me out for a walk while Daddy was on duty; it was so nice to get outside! Thank you Kathryn!!! Today is all about monitoring and seeing how things go, as well as seeing if he can drink more fluids to get him off IV fluids. Fingers crossed things go well today and we can go home tomorrow! 

This hospital trip has been a tough one for Eric with the vomiting, feeling better  and then worse again, and isolation in our room, but Eric is so tough and continues to amaze me every day. He has always been a kind kid, but when we were getting ready to come to the hospital on Tuesday night, he wasn't worried for himself, he was worried for his brother since Daddy was at work and he'd be alone. Minutes later, mid vomit, he says "and what about Millie?" Despite everything that he is going through, he remains so compassionate. 

Pics today are not of Eric since its been a rough go; instead, another pic of the giraffe who came to see us again and the view from my "bed" - not too shabby if you've got to be stuck indoors. Finally, a pic of the crocuses we saw on our walk today and the Starbucks gift card we got from the hospital for Valentine's Day, just because its cute!