THE BIG DAY

     We got up this morning and headed to my parents to drop Jaden off.  Then we continued to Temple for our appointment.  Jake was excited when we arrived because he remembered the playroom and nice nurses but he was still a little unsure about it all.  The lady checked us in and we were called back soon afterwards.  Once we were in the room, I asked the nurse about the numbing cream to help Jake since he had been poked so many times recently.  He has never cried but really how fun can that be even if it doesn't hurt you?  They did have it but said it takes about 30-40 minutes to get completely numb.  We were really hoping for a fast visit so elected to not use it.  Instead they were going to poke his finger instead.  We weren't sure if they would get enough blood but with his test they only needed a small amount.  A different nurse came in with a heating pack for his finger then started to get everything ready. She poked Jake right in the middle of talking to him so he had no time to pull back.  He just said, "Hey that didn't hurt!"  Surely enough, Jake was able to fill the whole little vial with blood and she wasn't even squeezing his finger!  This made me a little nervous that it was so easy to come out.  They had to put extra gauze with the band-aide as it was still bleeding.  

     When Jake was done, he went to pick out a prize....of course he asked for a prize for his brother as well.  Then they gave him extra stuff for being so "brave and cute".  They were offering him food, snacks, toys, everything....they really do love our boy there!  The nurse that did his blood work today called Jake over to send the blood to the lab.  They have a system that reminded me of the one at the banks, where you watch the tube go up and over to the ladies in the bank from the drive thru.  Anyways, Jake got to push the buttons and send it off.  He was so excited to be helping.
     
     Jake and I headed down to the play room since I knew it would be a little wait.  After a short while, Dr. Kane came in and got us.  I was nervous to see him but excited at the same time.  We had been praying for a good visit and high numbers and I really wanted to believe it would happen.  There was just a part of me holding on to the fact that I could see a low number again-below 30-since I had already heard 6 of them!  He asked if we had any guesses on what the numbers were.  My immediate response was "Nope...what are they."  He asked again for us to guess.  Up to this point, I really liked him and respected him but if he was making me play this silly game and it was a low number, I would not like him anymore!!  John guessed 50.  I said, I wanted over 150 but it had only been a week so I was skeptical.  Then he pulled it up on the screen and it was 194.  I looked again and again, 194!!  I looked at Dr. Kane and he had the biggest smile as well.  "We did it!  Jake responded well to the steroids and now he is in the normal range."  Oh my God!  I could not believe my ears or eyes!!  Hallelujah! 

     Jake got on the table and Dr. Kane did his exam as he does every week.  I was so excited and just kept looking and John telling him I couldn't believe they were so high!  Ugh, we were finally able to take a breath and breathe!  

     Now we just have to monitor him.  If Jake seems like he has more bruises than normal, darker ones, or bruises in places that should be bruising, I will take him in to get lab work done.  We already have lab orders done (one of the reasons we love this doctor) and he will leave that up to my discretion.  We also will have to look for the petechiae to come back as that seems to be one of the main indicators that Jake is low with platelets.  Other than that, John will take him back to do more lab work in 2 weeks, on August 12th which is my first day back to work.  If the lab results come back higher, we get to wait another 2 weeks.  If they come back lower, we have our appointment set for August 13th in Killeen.  

     Clearly we hope that the next two weeks are good and healthy for us.  We pray for more good numbers August 12th and that we can cancel our appointment on the 13th.  From here on out we will go every 2-4 weeks for a while to monitor his numbers.  As long as they stay in that normal (150-400) range then we are good and will stop seeing Dr. Kane after 6 months or so.  We pray this was the solution and the steroids were able to get Jake's body back on track.  I asked if there was anything Jake could not do at this point...short answer=No.  He can do what he wants (with caution of course)!!  :)