No Sushi For You

The dreaded transfusion happened today.  Harry had been dreading the possibility. It's a shame the transfusion had to be on Friday.  How cool would "Transfusion Tuesday" or "Bloody Monday" have been?   Though Harry's blood counts went up a little, it wasn't enough to permit anesthesia on Monday.  So it was either a civil war-style lumbar puncture (remember the hospital scenes from "Gone With The Wind") or having a transfusion.

Makeshift nurse Scarlett O'Hara preps for a lumbar puncture at the makeshift hospital at the church in Atlanta 

Speaking of numbers, when the ANC is under 500, there are perks for a teen boy - no flossing allowed and no trimming of toe nails.  But swimming and sushi are also banned, so it's a wash, except for the toe nails and teeth.


Normal                      Harry 6/18       6/24        7/1         7/8.       7/21.     7/23        7/25
Hemoglobin  12-16      14.1                13.3.     13.2         13.3      8.7          7.4          7.7
Platelets 150-350        235                 174.       168           170        89          65          78
WBC  5000-10000     8750              6300.      6200       3900      2006       1005      1420
ANC.    Above 1500.                       4700.      2770       1460       1150       270       480


Speaking of transfusions on Bloody Monday, it makes me wish we could have U2 at the official music in the hemo clinic.  But, instead, every day, a dance favorite from the '80's is played.  Today it's "Thriller."  They seem to really like Michael Jackson (ok, no anesthesia jokes or ones about presumed child molesters either, I promise).  And the hallway turns into the set of "Ellen" as the nurses and assorted patients and brave parents have a five-minute dance party.   (Laurie Moskowitz: Could I beg you to have Bono change the musical misdirection?)  

Harry really needed blood today

Harry has been complaining of pain for two weeks.  As I mentioned, he was immobile last weekend.   Wednesday, I bought him shoes at The Walking Store and that seemed to help.  On Thursday night, he had an MRI.   The pain could have marked the return of the ankylosing spondylitis, but given the fact he has weekly spinal infusions of methotrexate, it seemed not to fit.

We were very nervous because of the possibility of AVN - avascular necrosis.  Steroids used in chemo can cause a lack of blood flow to bone tissue, causing bones to collapse.  This is a common cause for hip replacement at a certain age.  But that age is usually not fifteen.  For five days, we lived in huge fear that this would be our next 'side effect.'

Heading in for two hours of magnetic imaging 

The results on Friday morning revealed no such damage.  There was a small synovial cyst in the spine. Probably a result of the weekly lumbar punctures.  The cyst, combined with unstable flip flops (heck, I'll name the brand: Vineyard Vines), apparently caused the great pain.

A big thanks to our hero Stephanie Cooper Greenberg who ran two triathlons (yes, two) last weekend and sent Harry her finisher's shirt and asked him to come up and do a triathalon with her next summer.