Our Plans Changed in an Instant

In the last post I wrote that Katie was feeling good and was looking forward to a vacation of rest a play. We were even planning a trip to the mountain for a little skiing. That didn't happen. The night that I wrote that post, Katie became ill and was vomiting from 3am on. By 9am the next morning, she had a fever of 104.3 and we were off to the hospital. Our first stop was North Country Hospital where her blood counts revealed some serious underlying problems. Her total white blood count was .2 or 200, her ANC was nonexistent, and her hemoglobin was 7.4. Everything else was just as low. She was then loaded into an ambulance and sent to Fletcher Allen for further treatment.

Once at Fletcher Allen, Katie recieved mega-doses of antibiotics just in case, and a transfusion to get her numbers up and out of the dangerously low levels to which they had dropped. She was also given simultaneous doses of tylenol and ibuprofen to stop the fever from rising any higher. It hadn't responded to a dose of only tylenol earlier. Katie was then kept at Fletcher Allen as an in patient in the children's hospital for the next two nights until she no longer had a fever and her blood counts seemed like they were rising on their own. She was released from the hospital today.

Katie is still neutropenic and not allowed to go anywhere without a mask on, but since her body seems to be recovering and no longer in need of the IV fluids or other maintenance drugs, she was allowed to leave the hospital and finish her recovery at home. We didn't actually take her home tonight though, instead choosing to stay in Burlington one more night with Katie's Grandpa Art and Grandma Kathy. We brought her here directly from the hospital and she immediately took a 3 hour nap. It is hard to sleep well in the hospital with nurses checking on you around the clock.

Tomorrow morning, we will actually head for home where Katie will be allowed to spend the next couple of days until returning back to Fletcher Allen for a follow-up and her first half-strength doses of chemotherapy again.