Hooray for Platelets!

Did you ever stop to think about or even appreciate your platelets?  Well, maybe just take a minute now and be ever grateful for all they do to keep you from bleeding all the time.  This was Brendan this morning.  His nose just wouldn't stop dripping.

 Nevertheless, he had a pretty good day.  He slept well last night and woke early to enjoy breakfast (I still can't believe he's enjoying food again!) before Riley came for blood draws.  Brendan's poor nose was red from the blood, but even more sore from all the wiping.

 Results from the blood draws this morning showed Brendan's platelet count was really low -- a "4".  (That means 4,000.  Normal values are 150,000.  Critical levels are below 10,000.)   The rest of his blood work was pretty normal.   Last week, our care coordinator at Primary's made arrangements for Brendan to get blood transfusions done in Logan so we didn't have to drive to Salt Lake every week.  That came in really handy today when the doctor made an order and we just ran into town for a bag of platelets.

The Infusion Center at Logan is really nice!  It is part of the new addition to the Budge Clinic.  We were taken to a room, but after sitting for a minute, Brendan said, "This chair is too hard!" (actually he didn't like that it didn't recline far enough).  So they found a room with a bed for him.

 Much better!  They also found an apple for him to eat. (Since starting the steroids, all Brendan can think about is food.)

 I didn't think they would need to type and match his blood for platelets, but they did.  Still, the whole process only took 3 hours.

 Brendan was a little irritable coming home, (he was tired, his head hurt, and he was still wiping his nose a lot), but Loren knew how to cheer him up.

 Brendan felt a lot better after eating and even came outside for awhile.

 Still, you know how those food cravings go. . .
So Sarah, Landon, and I had to make a late night pizza run to Little Caesar's and grab a gelata from Zeppe's.

"So, Brendan, did that hit the spot?"
"Uh, well, it was. . . OK, I guess."

(Thanks, Jesse and Connie, for the Little Caesar's gift cards!)

Brendan was pretty tired tonight and went right to sleep.  His nose has already stopped bleeding.  Once again, I am amazed at how quickly the platelets began clotting the blood.  Modern miracles.  Hooray for Platelets!  Remember to be grateful for those tiny cells in your blood.