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Daughter needed blood transfusion
Mar. 12th, 2010 10:22 amWe just spent the last three days at the hospital. This one was a planned visit, but it lasted a day longer than planned. Daughter went in on Tuesday for a procedure/test. This one (an ERCP) was intended to diagnose and possibly cure her recurrent bouts of cholangitis/pancreatitis. (Click on the "real life" tag for tales of previous bouts.) And although an ERCP is sometimes done on an out-patient basis, her doctors wanted to keep her overnight for observation.
It was a good thing that they did. Blood counts revealed that she had very low hemoglobin, and they surmised it was due to bleeding from an incision they made to enlarge the base of her bile duct during the ERCP. Fortunately, the bleeding stopped on its own without needing to go back in. (Unfortunately, they declared her NPO--no food or drink--just in case they did have to go back in. Poor Daughter only got in one post-surgery meal before becoming NPO again--and it was an all-liquid meal.)
However, she had lost enough blood that it was considered dangerous. The doctors strongly recommended that she have a blood transfusion. I sat there stupidly thinking, "Shit. I wish my husband were here. I hate having to make this decision alone." (She needed a blood transfusion once before, but that time there was no choice. The doctor had looked scared, and when the doctor looks scared for your kid, you know it's bad.) After asking the doctor a few questions, I agreed that, yes, she would be better off with one than without.
She made it through without any immediate problems. Now I just get to add something else to my list of long-term worries for her.
On a more positive note, my younger two children were wonderful through it all. On Tuesday, they went to a neighbor's after school (as my husband was at the hospital with us), but the next two days, they were latchkey kids until my husband got home from work. They were only alone for 1/2 hour to an hour each day, but they dutifully let themselves in the house, relocked the door behind them, used the answering machine to screen calls, and did their homework! Big hugs and kisses for them when I got home.
PS- The hospital's wireless network blocks LJ. I felt so lost without it.
.
It was a good thing that they did. Blood counts revealed that she had very low hemoglobin, and they surmised it was due to bleeding from an incision they made to enlarge the base of her bile duct during the ERCP. Fortunately, the bleeding stopped on its own without needing to go back in. (Unfortunately, they declared her NPO--no food or drink--just in case they did have to go back in. Poor Daughter only got in one post-surgery meal before becoming NPO again--and it was an all-liquid meal.)
However, she had lost enough blood that it was considered dangerous. The doctors strongly recommended that she have a blood transfusion. I sat there stupidly thinking, "Shit. I wish my husband were here. I hate having to make this decision alone." (She needed a blood transfusion once before, but that time there was no choice. The doctor had looked scared, and when the doctor looks scared for your kid, you know it's bad.) After asking the doctor a few questions, I agreed that, yes, she would be better off with one than without.
She made it through without any immediate problems. Now I just get to add something else to my list of long-term worries for her.
On a more positive note, my younger two children were wonderful through it all. On Tuesday, they went to a neighbor's after school (as my husband was at the hospital with us), but the next two days, they were latchkey kids until my husband got home from work. They were only alone for 1/2 hour to an hour each day, but they dutifully let themselves in the house, relocked the door behind them, used the answering machine to screen calls, and did their homework! Big hugs and kisses for them when I got home.
PS- The hospital's wireless network blocks LJ. I felt so lost without it.
.