I recently bumped into a friend from my economics class when I was waiting for the elevator over at the hospital. I had as usual been there for one of Peeper's check-ups between chemotherapy treatments and, it turned out that she was there because her son is suffering from something called: Acute ITP. Something that, she assured me, "is not contagious," after I nearly passed out when her 4-year-old, ran straight to little Peeper's stroller and threw his arms around him. As soon as he had figured out that I was a friend of his mom's, my son was apparently automatically a friend of his.
It was really cute to watch, but I'm thankful that Peeper's Neutrophils weren't attrociously low for once, cause I was still almost weak with relief to hear that I wouldn't have anything to worry about, other than all the regular germs that a child who attends a day care center is likely to carry around.
Those are bad enough, but when people take their kids to the hospital over here, there's usually reason to worry about more serious things, as an appointment at the pediatric clinic requires a referral from a local doctor's office.
Had Peeper's results come back anything like today, she would never have gotten the chance to tell me anything, as I would have grabbed the stroller and fled as soon as I heard her call my name and, realized that she was walking towards me from the direction of the door to the pediatric clinic.
It may sound melodramatic, but I don't know that I could react in any other way when my baby's white blood cell count often is so low that any kind of infection could become life threatening...
his neutrophils are down to 0,1, which means that he's suffering from severe neutropenia again, Something that it by the way took 5 attempts with the needle to figur out, as he just wouldn't bleed enough for the nurse to take the test.
my brave, brave little miracle didn't even cry. But I wanted to cry in his place. It's just so unfair that he should be so use to being put through pain that they can hurt him over and over without getting a reaction. I'd almost prefer it if he cried or yelled or, at least tried to get away... But he just endures it without so much as a peep. It breaks my heart.
At least this ITP, isn't anything to worry about, unless your own child is suffering from it, but then it can be pretty scary stuff and, you would do good to Pad the crib and, provide protective clothing, as Bruises can appear at the bones, elbows and knees just from movement. It is also wise to let your child wear a helmet, as Any head trauma that occurs when there are not enough platelets to stop the bleeding can be life threatening.
In ITP, the body produces antibodies that stick to the platelet cells. Normal antibodies are proteins that guard against infection. The spleen, an organ that is responsible for removing disease causing cells from the body, recognizes the antibodies as signs of foreign cells and destroys the platelets to which they are attached.
Vor: Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura, since we know all about thromocytopenia, or, a decreased number of platelets in the blood, after little Peeper's journey through "chemotherapy side effects teritory."
Idiopathic, means unknown and, Purpurra refers to a purple discoloring of the skin after blood has leaked under it, which basically is to be expected when there aren't enough platelets to form the clots that are needed to stop bleading. I had to look those last 2 up however, my knowledge of latin is limited.
There is, as "Idiopathic" suggests, no known cause, but Often, a child with ITP may have a virus such as chickenpox a few weeks before developing evidence of ITP.
My friend's son had had ITP for a few weeks, but she said that the platelets had started to increase a little, something that she was profoundly grateful for, not only because it's worrisome when your child is sick, but also because she's got one of the wildest little boys ever born. Something that I was ready to second after knowing him for 10 minutes.
I've never seen such a little ball of energy...
She had to be ready for him every time a door opened somewhere and, she had to chase him around the children's ward for about 5 minutes before she returned with her little breakout king.
We tried to catch up on old times, but During the few minutes that we actually got to talk, he almost managed to disappear in 2 different elevators and, she only just had time to snatch him up and get out again before the elevator door closed.
He was totally hyper. God only knows where he would have ended up if he had been able to get to another flor.
She tried to pick him up, but he was twisting and turning so violently, that I would have been scared of dropping him, not to mention that I would have been afraid of causing bruises just trying to hold on to him, considering that his platelet count was so low.
I think she was thinkin the same thing and, she put him down almost right away with an axasperated little laugh and, we decided to catch up on Facebook instead. She let him push the button to open the door to the pediatric clinic and, he flew over to the door right next to that one in the blink of an eye and pushed the button over there as well. He almost managed to take her on another Sightseing around what I think is the eye department, but she somehow got over there to catch him before he had time to disappear through the open door.
She's getting her share of excersise, that's for sure. I really hope he hurries up and gets well before he hurts himself or manages to make his mom's hair turn grey.
It was really nice to see her again and, it also had me thinking, that there's so much we don't know about the people around us. I had no idea that her son was sick and, she didn't know about little Peeper's cancer either. I write about it on here, but it's not something I've announced all over facebook. Though I sometimes wonder if that wouldn't have been a better alternative.
As it is, we don't see anyone, because we're so afraid that they'll pass something on to little Peeper and, we don't exactly have time to sped hours on the phone to let everyone know what's happenig either.
I put up a seemingly innocent status on facebook from time to time, and, it's actually a pretty effective way to let people know what's going on.
It's not necessarily that I don't want people to know, it's more that I don't want them to ask questions at a time when I'm not ready to answer. Sometimes I think that it'd be easier to just let the whole world know at once why we're keeping to ourselves all the time, but there's always somethin holding me back. perhaps I just don't want to find out that most people aren't gonna care. They've got their own problems to worry about.
I suppose most of my facebook friends know anyway, since I ran straight into the arms of the whole showdown team when we were on our way home from the first treatment. They were on their way to a tournament in Finland and, I of course had to explain what I was doing at the train station in Stockholm and, why I wouldn't be going to tournaments with them any time soon.
And while I'm on the subject of keepin people updated through facebook:
Another old friend, all the way back from elementary school, almost lost her daughter due to a very complicated case of Meconium Aspiration Syndrome.
MAS can happen before, during, or after labor and delivery when a newborn inhales (or aspirates) a mixture of meconium and amniotic fluid (the fluid in which the baby floats inside the amniotic sac). Meconium is the baby's first feces, or poop, which is sticky, thick, and dark green and is typically passed in the womb during early pregnancy and again in the first few days after birth.
The inhaled meconium can partially or completely block the baby's airways. Although air can flow past the meconium trapped in the baby's airways as the baby breathes in, the meconium becomes trapped in the airways when the baby breathes out. And so, the inhaled meconium irritates the baby's airways and makes it difficult to breathe.
For an infant that has inhaled meconium and shows signs of poor activity level, has a lower heart rate (<100 bpm), is limp, and has poor muscle tone, the goal is to clear the airway as much as possible to decrease the amount of meconium that's aspirated. This is done by putting in an endotracheal tube (a plastic tube that's placed into the baby's windpipe through the mouth or nose) and applying suction as the tube is slowly removed. This allows the infant to receive suctioning of both the upper and lower airways. The doctor will continue trying to clear the airway until there's no meconium in the suctioned fluids..
Except in this case, so much suction was applied that the lungs were damaged and, the air started leaking out into the little girls chest through little tiny holes in the lung tissue...
I've been keeping up with her progress on facebook and, I figured out by and by that the little one was flown in by ambulance helicopter to the same hospital where little Peeper has been receiving his chemotherapy treatments, just about a day or so after we first were told of his diagnosis, so we were there at the same time. And we didn't even know that her daughter was fighting for her life in the NICU just a couple of flors below us.
Emma didn'tt even get the chance to hold her for the first time until she was 2 weeks old.
I was so happy for her when she got to bring her princess home and, although she was still on oxigen, she was becoming stronger every day...
Until she caught the RSV
In adults, it may only produce symptoms of a common cold, such as a stuffy or runny nose, sore throat, mild headache, cough, fever, and a general feeling of being ill. But in premature babies and kids with diseases that affect the lungs, heart, or immune system, RSV infections can lead to other more serious illnesses and, for this little girl it took several days before she could leave the hospital...
Childhood cancer, or any other severe illness, is a very isolating experience in so many ways. I almost don't want to tell people, cause I know that they won't know what to say, but it's easy to forget that there are others out there who are going through a difficult time. Not just others, I know that, I see them every time we have to revisit the children's oncology ward, but there are other people, close to me, who may need a kind word and, who may be ready to give one.
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