First of all, I feel like a loser of a mother. I have pictures of Scout and Navy’s first Carruthy appointment, but not Dash’s. Not that I didn’t have my camera out to snap away — I just didn’t have my stinking memory card in it. So I missed the first check up, and when Carruthy had to take my boy’s blood to check up on his numbers. Because of this mess up, I made sure I had my camera all set when he went to his hematology appointment. I was technically his second doctor’s appointment, but let’s keep in mind that he has spent over half his life in the hospital, so he was no stranger to what was happening.
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Second of all, let me give some background on Dash’s numbers up until now. When he left the hospital, his numbers were good. Bili was down to I think an 8, and his H&H were good (hematocrit was a 28 I think). When we hit Dr. Carruth’s office five days after being released, he took blood to verify that all was good. Based on his color alone, we knew we were completely out of the woods on his Bili. But on the H&H, his pale color told us we needed to draw blood. With the heel prick, he found that the numbers were not so good, and then took “real” blood to get a more accurate accounting. He booked a hospital bed at CHOC, and we were back at the hospital that evening for blood transfusion #2. The really good news was that there was still enough blood from the first batch to use for this transfusion, and that is great because we know he has no reaction — and more importantly, that it works. So he had 10 hours of transfusion over the next 24 hours. I stayed with him in the hospital, and held, fed and sang to him. By the time we got the final results, his H&H was at an 11 and a 32. These numbers are the best we have seen so far. So we were released, and headed home.
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So two days later we headed to the hematologist to get a “game plan”. So the plan they came up with is juts to monitor him until he stabilizes. I can’t wait to see how much that appointment cost me! That is why I ONLY go to Carruthy — second best doctor in the world! (Nobody will ever pass Theiny!)
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So now that you have a bit of the story, here is our visit to the blood doctor.
Doesn’t my baby look long! This poor little man has a Pavlov response to any time he has to undress, and lay on a cold and hard surface.
He screams!
Understandably though. This poor guy looked like he ran through a cactus field after he left the hospital with all of his heel pricks. And then add the numerous IV’s, the shots and the bigger blood draw — this boy is a trooper!
Nonnie immediately took him to comfort him.
But it wasn’t over yet — he still needed his vitals checked.
So here is the blood pressure machine that squeezes his little leg to smitherines.
But a little formula in my diaper bag did just the trick.
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