Diagnosis; Leukemia; June 11, 1987

I woke up around seven o’clock. I had a shower and got dressed then I had breakfast. I got an overnight bag ready, I packed Alex’s medicine, toothbrush and tooth paste and some snacks as well. We left around nine o’clock, we had to be at the hospital by 9:30 a.m.

Charlie stayed home as the builder was coming to fix the cement in the basement.

We got to the hospital after 9:30 a.m. Just after we got there Lenore tried to start an I.V. for Alex but his veins won’t come up. She put hot towels on Alex’s hands and then wrapped them with a diaper.

We waited about 15 minutes and then Lenore tried again. Alex started to cry but Lenore asked Corina to hold Alex’s arm. Lenore gave Alex his ARA-C and took some blood as well. They had to wait to find out the blood count before they could start the I.V. Alex was scheduled to have aldophosphamide but his blood count had to be over 100,000 for platelets and over 1,000 for the ANC. We waited for about an hour and then Dr S took us to a room to check Alex. Dr R asked her to look after Alex now. Dr R told us whenever he was busy she would look after Alex.

Dr S does all the bone marrow and spinal taps. She said that Alex’s platelet count was low and that they would postpone the I.V. until Alex’s blood count was back up again. Dr S said Alex would have to have blood today as his HGB was 5.4.

We had to wait for them to match and clean the blood. They started the blood I.V. at 12:15 p.m.. Krisann said it takes about three or four hours for it to go through.

Alex wouldn’t lie down, he said he wasn’t tired. Every time I talked to anyone he kept interrupting me, he seems to need my attention all the time. I found him very cranky, anytime I touched one of the toys he wanted it.

We left the hospital around four o’clock just before we left Alex had diarrhea. Mom asked us for dinner so we went there after the hospital. We stayed until after seven o’clock, I gave Alex his medicine before we left. Dr S said to stop the Mercaptopurine and to continue giving Alex the Bactrim as it is for infection.

Alex fell asleep on the way home, I put him into his bed when we got home. I watched TV, I felt totally exhausted from all the events of the day. I find going to the hospital takes everything out of me. I went to bed after ten o’clock.

Tests

WBC 1.6
HGB 5.7
Platelets 53,000
ANC 1392

Medicine

Bactrim 8:30 p.m. ----- 7:15 p.m.

Temperature 36.79C 8:30 p.m. 36.98C 7:15 p.m.