JULIA & SHARON-FROM ATLANTA

5/12/09
Dear friends,
Julia's blood counts continue to remain low, so we are waiting for those counts to start to increase. Her neutrophil count ( part of white blood cells that fights infections) is only 30. I believe the low end of a normal range is 1,400, but I don't have that paper work in front of me at the moment. Surprisingly there are children on this hospital floor right now that have zero neutrophils. We encounter so many children and their families that are in a lot worse shape than we are. It's such an eye opening experience to learn about these children. The 3rd floor at this hospital is full!!! The wing where we are is very busy, many times with young kids on their tricycles with their masks on, sometimes with parents behind them pushing their child's I.V. pole. It's something to see!! Don't ever take your children's health for granted. Because Julia's blood counts decreased yet again this morning, she had another blood transfusion this afternoon. This is her 3rd transfusion overall. It's strange that receiving a transfusion of someone else's blood has become something that we don't seem to worry about so much anymore. The doctors say that she cannot go home until they see those counts start to increase again. Julia is also being treated with an inhaler because of her croupy cough. It could be that this dip in blood counts could drag along because of this congestion/cough. She also has continued to have high blood pressure & a high pulse rate, which is concerning me a whole lot more that the doctors!
Please pray that this blood pressure and pulse rate will level out and that this cough will go away, and please pray for white blood cells!!
I'm sorry that I have been rambling on & on in this update. In closing, I will share with you all that God has been so good to give us the strength that we have needed. I know that He is with us all the time. He makes procedures like blood transplants be "OK"... watching nurses put drugs into a port in your child's blood stream and drawing blood back out "OK"...watching fluid being taken from your child's spine & having drugs put into her spine "OK"... I still feel like at times that this is all a big nightmare & that I will soon wake up. I never would have thought that I would have the strenth needed to handle all of this, but with HIS help I am handling it. Please continue to pray for strength & guidance for Jeff & me and for Julia's continued healing.
Love,
Sharon