Kristi had just a plain ‘ol follow up visit today with Dr. Downey to check on the I/P port. However, after reviewing her blood levels, he sent her right to the hospital for a platelet transfusion. I got a call from Kristi at work at about 2:15PM. Denny came with me so he could drive my Jeep back. Oh yeah, did I mention it was a blizzard out!! We got 6” of snow today! Yuck!! The overall transfusion process was not really a big deal; just an inconvenience. About half way through however, Kristi came down with an allergic reaction to the platelets. So they had to stop and give her some Benadryl and restart. The overall process only took a few hours and we were home by 7:00. Not too bad. Kristi sent out this e-mail tonight...
bkrogalske@sbcglobal.net
04/11/2007 09:32 PM
Hi everyone,
You know the saying "one step forward, two steps back"? Well, that’s what happened this week. The mammogram results were a great step forward but today we went back. I was at my doctors to have my incision checked from the stomach port. They had my blood test results from yesterday and were concerned about how low my blood count was so they drew it again today while I was there and it had dropped even more. As my doctor put it, my counts are "in the toilet". Because they were so low, I was at risk for an infection and if I should fall and cut myself, I wouldn’t be able to stop the bleeding. So, they sent me to the hospital for a platelet transfusion. (that was step one back). After about 15 minutes into the infusion, I started having an allergic reaction and had hives from head to toe within minutes (step two!). They gave me a dose of benadryl and then continued the transfusion. Thankfully the hives have started disappearing and that was the only reaction I had.
The kids did really well with the last minute changes in their plans for today and we have great friends who stepped in and took care of them for us (thanks Sheryl, Sheri & Karin!!!). Please pray that my counts will start to go up and that I won’t need another transfusion. I will be having a blood test tomorrow and Friday and possibly the weekend as well – depending on the results. They are still planning on having the distribution test next Tuesday morning. We are trying hard to just focus on one step at a time right now.
Please also keep my parents in your prayers. They are leaving on a very early flight tomorrow morning for Mexico for a vacation. I know it is hard for them to go especially with something like this happening. Please pray for safety and that they can just let go and have a great time.
Thanks for your prayers!
Love,
Kristi
