When Your Up Your Up

and when your down your down. Mireya's hemoglobin and her white blood cell count are up this week, but those pesky platelets still continue to be an issue. Within the last 7 days they have gone from less than 5k to 79k and now they are 12k. I could tell based on some new bruising and the return of coloring in some of the previous areas that her platelets might be taking a dip. As a result, we ended up with another platelet transfusion. The good thing is those don't take long to be administered. Thirty minutes, a couple good vitals and you're out the door. It's all the waiting before, during and after that can be tricky.

Full to the Rim with Brim...that's what the fishbowl was like today. I saw about 4 transfusions, 1 admission and a couple of chemo preps. I was heartbroken to see a first time mom and her 5 month old little boy come in today. The family was referred to MCV Hemoc by their Pediatrician. They drove into town last night to begin the process of tests, draws and close monitoring to determine what is going on in his sweet little body. Hearing his cries and seeing the IV line in his tiny little arm was a lot to sit through. I tried to psych myself out, but I couldn't contain my tears. I spoke with the family briefly and told them I would be praying for little Tucker.

I've been doing my best to wear my smile and brave face, but this is very emotionally taxing. I realize that I 'have' to allow myself time to decompress. My knees want to buckle under the weight of the emotion, but my faith and my trust in God tells me EVERYTHING is going to be alright. There are just some things we are going to have to endure before that time arrives. Mireya makes it easy. She's come to understand that when we go in she has to have blood taken, an IV put in and there will be a considerable wait. Makinley on the other hand has a threshold of a few hours and once that is surpassed it's not cute. It's not her fault, but I'm going to have to plan differently for future appointments. There was no amount of movies or snacks to offset her upset today. While we're on snacks, we've definitely noticed an increase in Mireya's appetite (this is an effect of the medication). This girl could probably eat her brother under the table and that says a lot because he is going through a growth spurt and is hungry every 2 seconds. Not to mention he's got about 15lbs on her. I thought we'd reasonably planned out snacks, but suddenly Reya was ravenous. She went through grapes, juice, chips, a granola bar and a fruit roll-up in about 25 minutes and asked for more...we'll have to pack her and this endless stomach a lunch next week.

I have yet to hear from Allie's Mom on how her procedure went yesterday, but I trust that everything went well and her body is responding favorably to the transplant. Continue to keep Allie in your prayers. We are happy the majority of Reya's counts are going up. A friend shared with me this past week how she recalled the mood of her family's day hinging on receiving those numbers. Two out of three is better than where we were last week, so we'll take it. Our hope is the medication is working as intended and balancing out her cell counts. We are scheduled for draws/counts early next week and then a follow-up visit with her physician to discuss treatment and timelines. Several results from her testing will also be available to review. We are trusting that her levels will continue to rise.

Phillippians 4:4 says Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again Rejoice. God is moving and we are definitely rejoicing!!!