Today is monday. Every monday , wednesday and Friday I have to take Regina to CHLA for labs.
I took her there today. Nurses drew her blood, shanged her picc line dressing, made us wait for an hour for labs. After we got lab resluts we were told that Reginas platelets are running low. :( they want her to have at least 50 000 , but she was on 41 000 mark. So nurse called to blood/platelets bank to get Reginas platelets . Afterwhile nurse comes to me and tells us bad news. BLOOD bANK IS EMPTY. NO PLATELETS, NO BLOOD :(::(:( E M P T Y :(:(:( So I asked her what should we do.
She called Dr Dhall and Dr Dhall told us to go home, since everything else on her labs looks great ( not sure what ANC was , but white cells and red cells had improved over weekend). We have to go back on wednesday for more labs, and see if her platelets recovered itself.
NO ALL OF YOU- go donate your platelets and blood to CHLA. ALL kids ( Regina included ) need your help :).
13 comments:
I'll make you a deal.
You pick a day that works for both of us, I'll drive to your house and we'll both drive together to Los Angeles (for one of Regina's appointments or whatever you like) and I'll donate platelets, it usually takes an hour and a half once they hook a person up.
I donated platelets at St. Jude before and I offered to donate platelets at CHSD, but they get all their blood from the San Diego Blood Bank and they wanted whole blood.
St. Jude told me that if they have to buy platelets it costs somewhere close to $800, whole blood only costs $40/unit or so. You'd think they'd be crying out for platelet donations.
Let me know. San Diego to Los Angeles round trip for one day just to donate platelets sounds like too much but if you'll go I'll do it. I can drive or you can drive.
My blood is B negative, the second rarest blood type and I'd gladly donate for the benefit of Regina or some other child who needs it. Or whole blood if they'd rather.
So pick a day. I can do it Wednesday, I can't go Friday.
Thank you Kathy. You and Gabriel have same blood type. I am AB negative, Regina is B Positive and Nick is AB positive.
We Are going to CHLA on wednesday for labs.. I AM hoping that by then her platelets have recovered and we can just come home....
I have same issue with friday. I can't go. Regina and Gabriels school has open house and I want to meet with Regina and Gabriel teacher and classmates. :) VERY EXITING.
You have to make appointment to donate platelets. AND make sure you have not had aspirin or ibuprofen for at least 36 hours.....
Make an appointment Today!
Since the process of donating platelets takes two hours and we have a limited number of spaces, we must closely monitor our times of donation. Plateletapheresis donations are scheduled by appointment only. We have appointment times Monday through Friday starting at 7:30am, 8:00am, 10:00am, 10:30am, 12:30pm, 1:00pm, and 3:00pm. Our Saturday appointment times are at 7:30am, 8:00am, 10:00am, and 10:30am.
To make an appointment or for any questions, e-mail us or call (323) 669-2441.
I called the number and left my name and number. I requested an appt on Wednesday. We'll see what they say. I haven't had aspirin or ibuprofen in the last 72 hours, just a couple of glasses of wine and several cups of coffee, but those should be worn off by Wednesday I hope :-)
JULEE- CALL ME!!!!
I think I might know what the problem is with the blood supply at CHLA.
I called last night and left a msg, then twice so far today. I tried different phone options in the hope of actually being able to speak with a human (someone has to be there to man the blood donations, right?)
But no luck. Nobody, no matter what I try I get the msg machine and so far nobody has returned any of my calls.
If there's nobody there to manage the donations, then there's going to be a LITTLE PROBLEM COLLECTING BLOOD, ISN'T THERE?
This is giving me a headache. I think I need one of those SlimFast shakes.
I know what you mean. CALM DOWN. TAKE IT EASY!!!! Maybe it is a job for you ???
I finally spoke to someone in the blood bank and now I know why they have no blood.
The blood donor center doesn't have enough employees (??), so they are closed Mondays and Wednesdays. No particular reason was given for nobody being there today, after all, they desperately need blood.
So apparently the information on the CHLA website isn't quite accurate and doesn't mention that they can't be reached by phone or email at least 5 days out of the week.
So now we know that what they need is a blood donor center job fair, not a blood drive.
And that's the real reason there are no platelets for Regina. Kind of makes me want to go squish someone's head.
Kathy, you are cracking me up!!
Maybe you should be doing Diana's PMS sight this week. Not saying you are PMSing or anything...
: )
OMG... Are you serious??? That is just very wrong.. No wonder they are looking for people there. I spoke to couple of nurses and I was told that they are desperate need of nurses in CHLA, but sometimes it is hard to find bilingual nurses ( spanish and English ). MORE time I spend in CHLA, more things I find are wrong with that place. I am not saying anything bad about doctors, but... you know what I mean..
I hope Regina's platelets are good today, if you need me to squish someone's head, let me know.
And I'll let you know exactly how long it takes to get a response to my 3 phone msgs and one email to the blood donor center, after my initial contact on Monday, as of Wednesday afternoon I'm still waiting.
Julee, I could probably do Diana's PMS site every week, but then we'd have to call it PMS 48/14. It's sad but true, I have way more than enough material.
It's a good thing I sent that email I guess. I just got a phone call from CHLA in response to the email I sent.
I tentatively have an appointment to donate platelets for next Wednesday at 12:30 PM. I still don't know for sure I can make it.
They said I could direct the donation to Regina, but maybe by then she won't need them, I don't know how long they can keep them.
Diana, next time it might be better to get the donations a week or so in advance of when you think she might need them.
HEI. Next wednesday Regina will start Chemo. Wednesday , thursday, friday.. chemo days...
TODAY her platelets were 71 000 WOHOOOO
Hi Gang,
Hey, that was fun... well reading all your conversations between you and Kathy. You are truly blessed to have a friend like Kathy. This girl can make things happen!
I'm so happy to hear Regina's platelets were up, YES!!
Thinking of the princess each day, and praying HARD!
Keep holding on,
Susan
Post a Comment