Admitted

I'm blogging from my phone, so you'll have to excuse any grammar errors.

Hunter had his big one year checkup last Thursday. We were anticipating him starting to wean off his rejection medicine and were going to celebrate with all the Hanners in Galveston. His doctors thought he looked great, he was feeling as well as Hunter ever feels, and we were just waiting on his labs to get back before we hit the beach.

Then they came to draw more blood. Never a good thing. Then they dropped a bomb. His platelet count was 8, and they had triple checked and looked at slides and done a manual count. Platelets are the component of blood that clots when you get a cut or bump. His last platelet count was normal at 140. We were completely and totally caught off guard. Hunter has had many issues, but none of them platelets related. His body for some reason has begun attacking and killing off his platelets. We learned this is called ITP and a fairly common transplant issue.

He started on 60 mg steroids on Thursday and we made our way to Galveston. First treatment is outpatient steroids. It was definitely not the weekend we anticipated, but we did have a good time. They boys loved playing on the beach and we all ate our fair share of seafood. When I get my computer, I'll upload pictures from my good camera.

Monday morning we went back to clinic. We were hoping the steroids had slowed down the platelet destruction, but his platelet count was 3. At that point, he was admitted for IVIG treatment. He got a platelet transfusion around noon and waited all afternoon and evening for a room to become available.

I took the boys to the hotel and Jana and Mark switched out at the hospital. No one under 14 is allowed on the transplant floor. The kids have enjoyed the hotel pool, have ridden the train around the zoo, and are visiting the natural history museum this morning. We are glad they are here in Houston with us.

Hunter's treatment plan for the next 3 days is a once daily IVIG dose. It didn't get started until midnight last night, so it will be Friday morning until we are released. His morning platelet count was 2 after a transfusion, so he's still destroying his platelets at a pretty quick pace. We are all ready for the ship to be righted, and again ask for your prayers that Hunter's immune system settles down. We ask for prayers for Hunter's platelets, and for patience and strength as we continue the transplant process! Lots of love to Team Hanner!
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