Todd's hemoglobin came back at 7.6, under the 8.0 threshold requiring transfusion. We were also warned that his whites were at .300 and ANCs were at .100; both so terribly low. Of course, he received his chemo today anyway. Just one more day to go. A friend from the transplant floor called to check on Todd yesterday and she said she had treatment with Vidaza in the past with similar low numbers and she did fine. She did stress how important it is to get to the hospital in a timely manner though if a fever develops. His nurse also cautioned him about the neutropenic guidelines, which we have already been following. It is comforting to know that he is on antibiotics and antivirals just in case.
After waiting for about 15 minutes for a scheduler to set up a transfusion appointment at the hospital, I decided that was long enough. We were NOT going to sit around for hours waiting for orders or for the transfusion to get scheduled. Our nurse was so busy; I knew I had to be proactive.
I went out and explained the situation to one of the schedulers. She started checking on where his "Stat" transfusion orders were at. Within minutes she was on the phone with Miami Valley Hospital getting him in. I was so thankful! She knew all the protocol to follow, who to call, and had our appointment set up in about 10 minutes!
We grabbed something quick to eat knowing we would be at the hospital for hours. We arrived at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton and they got him into a chair in the Advanced Treatment Area and we began the long drawn out process of getting blood. This includes the patient History, vitals, signing waivers, getting a type and screen, waiting on the blood to be sent down, giving him pre-meds (Tylenol), having two nurses verify the blood and patient, and finally starting the first unit slowly for the first 15 minutes to make sure he doesn't have any reaction to the blood. This takes about an hour and a half or more.
If there is no reaction, they increase the speed of the infusion. Each unit takes about 1 1/2 hours to run and he usually always gets 2 units. And of course it takes time in between to get the second unit sent down, verified, vitals collected, and get it started slowly. Today getting two units of blood took over 5 hours, which is pretty typical.
It is nice getting treatments at the Cleveland Clinic because Todd could get everything in one location, instead of here in Dayton he has to go to the Cancer center for his chemo and then to the hospital for the transfusion. While they are more protective of their patients at Cleveland Clinic than at Miami Valley, I didn't miss the nearly 4 hour drive back home like we have to do when we go to Cleveland.
With Todd's ANCs and white counts so low, I didn't like him being in a room with just curtains separating him from people they were bringing in pneumonia or others who are hacking and coughing loudly. I think this was because the advanced treatment area is also the express admission unit.
All that aside, I'm so grateful to be home in our house, in our own bed, with our children in Dayton receiving treatment for Todd right now. We will be back in Cleveland soon enough.
Todd fell into bed and rested after getting home. He ate a little bit and relaxed with the girls. I was concerned that he has seemed a bit down in addition to being so worn down physically the last few days. So, I am appealing to those of you who care enough to read this blog to pick up the phone and give him a call this weekend. He knows you have been faithfully praying for him, but I think he would enjoy hearing from you too. May God bless you!
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