I haven't wanted to blog for the last few weeks. Life has been a bit hectic. DH spent two weeks at home with his cellulitis and is still taking oral antibiotics, but his leg is SO MUCH better. In the midst of that Ian developed a strange rash. It looked like meningitis. We rushed off the emergency clinic. He was his usual hyperactive self, bouncing off the walls and talking loudly. The nurses were ready to send him home, but the doctor was quite concerned about his head to toe rash so off to the hospital we went.
A few hours later we were in the capable hands of a lovely lady doctor. Not meningitis--thank goodness--we've lost quite a few people to that this year in our part of the world. But Ian's platelets were low, less than 10,000. Normal is 200,000-500,000. Hematology made us repeat the blood work in the morning because it was so extremely low. Several hours later confirmed--not leukemia, but ITP. A weird autoimmune disorder thing where the immune system attacks and kills platelets. So they gave him immuno globulin.
Imagine trying to keep a slippery, squealing, baby pig still in a bed with an IV in one arm and a blood pressure cuff and pulse/ox metre on the other arm for 6.5 hours. Yup. I did it! He slept through part of it, even while they checked his vitals every 15 minutes. It was a miserable day, but he did pretty well considering.
They don't often treat ITP but because of his learning delays and his hyperactivity they treated him. He was in the danger zone of spontaneous intercrannial hemorrhage. His platelets were up over 100,000 the next day and over 250,000 three days later. We thought we were free and clear. But today his rash came back again. His platelets are coming down--not dangerously so, but it is strange that his rash is back.
The good news is--we did an HIV test today and we can rule that out. Not the cause of the ITP or any of his struggle with what seems like constant illnesses. Yay! We had to check, since his birth mother was an IV drug user and a prostitute. Now we don't have to worry about that any more.
Up until this latest thing I was considering regular part time work. I even applied for three counselling type jobs. But now I am coming back to the reality that life with Bubby is probably never going to be easy. If I can work a few hours a week as a counsellor while Dad can be at home--that will be great. I don't think we will ever be able to depend on anyone else for a lot of child care or school. That's okay--I wanted to homeschool anyway. Who needs to make money and pay off debt? Ha! We'll still get it paid, it will just take longer.
Our adoption profile is finished. As of Monday we will be in the adoption pool for our area and the one just next to us (the biggest one in the country). Woo-hoo! We are feeling pretty confident that baby #3 will come our way. That would be so nice.
We had another call about taking on an 11 year old foster son. But DH was sick and so I said no. Good thing two--because that night I ended up in the hospital with Ian for two days. There will be more offers. I hope the next one is a younger child--just because he or she would fit in better to our little world here.
Nothing else to report. I am alive. I am healthy. I am grateful. I am depending on God--need to depend on Him more. A little bit homesick, but really enjoying the Rugby World Cup--Go All Blacks! Love our new cat--he's been here over a month now. And generally love my life. This latest round of illness with Ian just reconfirmed to me how much I truly love my little son and how happy I am to be his mother--even though it is really hard work sometimes.
A few hours later we were in the capable hands of a lovely lady doctor. Not meningitis--thank goodness--we've lost quite a few people to that this year in our part of the world. But Ian's platelets were low, less than 10,000. Normal is 200,000-500,000. Hematology made us repeat the blood work in the morning because it was so extremely low. Several hours later confirmed--not leukemia, but ITP. A weird autoimmune disorder thing where the immune system attacks and kills platelets. So they gave him immuno globulin.
Imagine trying to keep a slippery, squealing, baby pig still in a bed with an IV in one arm and a blood pressure cuff and pulse/ox metre on the other arm for 6.5 hours. Yup. I did it! He slept through part of it, even while they checked his vitals every 15 minutes. It was a miserable day, but he did pretty well considering.
They don't often treat ITP but because of his learning delays and his hyperactivity they treated him. He was in the danger zone of spontaneous intercrannial hemorrhage. His platelets were up over 100,000 the next day and over 250,000 three days later. We thought we were free and clear. But today his rash came back again. His platelets are coming down--not dangerously so, but it is strange that his rash is back.
The good news is--we did an HIV test today and we can rule that out. Not the cause of the ITP or any of his struggle with what seems like constant illnesses. Yay! We had to check, since his birth mother was an IV drug user and a prostitute. Now we don't have to worry about that any more.
Up until this latest thing I was considering regular part time work. I even applied for three counselling type jobs. But now I am coming back to the reality that life with Bubby is probably never going to be easy. If I can work a few hours a week as a counsellor while Dad can be at home--that will be great. I don't think we will ever be able to depend on anyone else for a lot of child care or school. That's okay--I wanted to homeschool anyway. Who needs to make money and pay off debt? Ha! We'll still get it paid, it will just take longer.
Our adoption profile is finished. As of Monday we will be in the adoption pool for our area and the one just next to us (the biggest one in the country). Woo-hoo! We are feeling pretty confident that baby #3 will come our way. That would be so nice.
We had another call about taking on an 11 year old foster son. But DH was sick and so I said no. Good thing two--because that night I ended up in the hospital with Ian for two days. There will be more offers. I hope the next one is a younger child--just because he or she would fit in better to our little world here.
Nothing else to report. I am alive. I am healthy. I am grateful. I am depending on God--need to depend on Him more. A little bit homesick, but really enjoying the Rugby World Cup--Go All Blacks! Love our new cat--he's been here over a month now. And generally love my life. This latest round of illness with Ian just reconfirmed to me how much I truly love my little son and how happy I am to be his mother--even though it is really hard work sometimes.
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