4 week transfusion schedule is a keeper

Lauran will be having her transfusion this week. Her hemoglobin was in the high 9's early this week so we kept the appt. we had scheduled for tomorrow. We were hoping maybe we may be able to stretch it to 5 weeks. In addition to checking her hemoglobin each week they also do another test ....which at the moment I can't remember the name ....which checks how hard her bone marrow is working to make new blood cells. As her blood gets lower that number gets higher. When your bone marrow works too hard it begins to stretch out your bones and can cause them to become brittle. So they want to transfuse at a point where her bone marrow doesn't go into overdrive for too long. That test and her hemoglobin test were both in the range on Monday that they feel she should stay on a 4 week transfusion schedule. The good news is that we will no longer be doing the weekly blood test. I believe we may need to do one blood draw in between transfusions but I need to double check that for sure. She is doing so much better with getting the needle pokes though!! She barely fused this week when we had to do the blood draw! A huge answer to prayer!!

So tomorrow is another long day at Children's!! Lauran has definitely been showing signs over the last week of being anemic. She has had less of an appetite and definitely more sleepy. Last month she was very restless during the transfusion. I am hoping our recent purchase with birthday money of a new video and polly pockets will help!! I can only hope:)