Thursday, November 04, 2010

MoFo NoFo - A Parental PSA: Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura

Okay, there's really no such thing as NoFo, this is just my first post of November, and it's not a food post, so it's not a MoFo post, so it's a post about why it's not a food/MoFo post, and it's a PSA for parents.

On Saturday, October 30th, we went trick or treating. Kiddo decided she wanted to be a black cat and her costume consisted of a black velour track suit from target, a black tail, a headband with black ears, and these little gloves. The pants were a size 4/5 and were a bit too long despite the fact that most 5s fit her perfectly.


We went with some friends and we were waiting for the kids a few steps away. Livi went up the steps to trick or treat and when she turned around I saw that bad moment when I knew she was going to fall and I yelled "S**t" as she fell and landed on her face. The scene of the crime:

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I ran over and picked her up and held her. My friend had a Scooby band aid and put it on her chin and I saw that the kiddo's mouth was bleeding. I held her for a few minutes and she ran of to go trick or treating some more, as happy as can be. Later she told me "Every day is a good day, even when you fall on your face."

The next day, Sunday, October 31st, she had a bruise on her chin and on Monday I noticed she had some light spotting. When I called her doctor's office (the Pediatric clinic at Womack Army Medical Center) they transferred me to get me a referral to an urgent care clinic which resulted in me holding for over 10 minutes, at which point I hung up. Later in the afternoon, I just showed up at the office. As most parents know, sometimes you just want a doctor to look at your kid and tell you that they're fine. But when the nurse looked at kiddo, she looked a little longer than I expected and then she ran to get a doctor and came back with a doctor and a student, at which point I realized there was something wrong. The cause of her concern? Little spots on kiddo's torso which I had noticed, but which I had assumed were tiny bruises from gravel or rocks from her fall. They told me the spots were petichiae and they ran blood tests (a horrifying experience because kiddo SCREAMED) at which point they found out her platelet count was 8000 (a normal count is apparently 150,000-450,000) and I was told she'd have to stay in the hospital for two days.

So that's where I've been - in the hospital with my kiddo. She actually had a pretty good time - we had a private room and they gave her special markers for drawing on the windows and they moved kitchen toys into her room to play with (she wasn't allowed to leave the room because of her low platelet count she was/is a bleed risk) and she got to watch lots of TV. She kept calling it vacation and the best day ever. That is of course except for the times when they were abusing her with needles - it took them 7 or 8 tries to get her IV in and they tied her down with that horrible papoose thing and they tried separating us to see if that made it better and I'll never ever ever forget her screams or the way her eyes pooled with tears and the way she looked at me. I pulled a mean mama bear and tried to steal her away twice and the anesthesiologist finally got the IV in good after he mentioned that his 7 year old had the same problem 3 weeks ago - I asked him how many times he stuck his kid and he said 14! I commented about that being unacceptable or horrible or something of that nature. After that, the IV was in good. Mama bear to the rescue! GRRR.

The doctor who diagnosed her said we'd get to leave Wednesday morning, that vegan meals would be no problem, and that the hospital definitely had WiFi. Translation? Mostly vegan, no WiFi, and the thread of Thursday, with a last minute reprieve to late Wednesday night. Her platelet count which started at 8000 went to 5000 then 7000 then 12000 (but they got tinier so that's bad) and then they went to 51000 big platelets (after the doc told me that if she had 50,000 or more platelets he wouldn't care how big they were, he'd send her home.

So anyway, the point of this post is that people seemed to think I was a genius for being on top of this situation and for getting her taken care of so fast - it was all coincidence! Apparently ITP - Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura - is usually preceded by a virus - and most commonly presents as bruising too easily or odd/easily bleeding. Your daily PSA! Also? She never felt sick - not once.

I wondered if the butter on the dinner was vegan . . .

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and then I found out what butter they use . . .

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. . . all the butter is vegan! But the bread isn't.

Her cousins sent her a bear with a balloon! She was happy to have mail.

Food post later today or tomorrow morning!

16 comments:

radioactivegan said...

Oh, no! I hope she's okay. It sounds like she was quite a trooper through the whole thing. And I think her comment about falling on your face might be the smartest thing I've heard in a while.

Unknown said...

Poor baby! I'm glad you guys are home now. <3

Luciana said...

Poor Livi! It sounds like a horrible experience, although she has a great outlook, and I hope she's doing better now!

Lauren said...

OMG!! Poor Livi! and I must say, what an optimist little gal your have! I just want to hug her!! Poor thing!! Sending you all love! XOXO

Lauren said...

I'm so sorry you and Livi had to go through this, but I am so happy she's home!

Gina Guillotine said...

Oh no! I'm so terribly sorry for all of you! I'm glad Livi took it all in stride, though. Her attitude is inspirational! She was so brave! Both of you were. I'm glad you're home, and hope everything will work itself out.

Islaborg said...

Baby jail made me chuckle, those things really do look scary.

My best wishes to you and your daughter, she's a trooper!

LebaLu said...

I am so happy that you all are home! That had to be so horrible! I do believe that you and Livi made the best of a bad situation though.

mollyjade said...

I was in the hospital for a while when I was that age. I remember it both being terrible (the phlebotomist had really cold hands and it took lots of tries to get the IV in) and wonderful because I got so much attention, could pick my meals off the menu, and was sent lots of crayons and flowers. I think the whole situation was much, much harder on my parents than on me.

RSM said...

i am so glad she took it all so well, but i know i would have been going mama bear on the doctors. too. yay for you.

Sarah said...

Thanks everyone!

Mollyjade - I hope you're right and I think you mostly are. Her one residual problem is that she's so scared about anything having to do with the arm that her IV finally ended up in - the arm that got stuck about 6 times. She has some band-aids on it and she cries if I even ask about taking them off or putting new ones on and she tends to hold it like it still has that splint thing on it. Sad!

celyn said...

So glad you guys are home, and thinking lots of good thoughts for you and Livi!

Kim said...

Livi is the perfect optimistist, isn't she? You are a great mom, Sarah. Don't forget it.

celine said...

you're the best mom ever. lots of hugs all around, and wishes for everything to go smoothly from now on.

sara said...

how scary for you and livi! glad you've got her back home now and she's doing better!

Chrystal said...

ITP is scary. I had it in 2012. I went to doctor for an unrelated issue and then asked about this little rash type. Thing I had on my chest (it wwas the little red dots). They sent me for blood tests and then by the end of the week I had gotten worse and was hospitalized. I spent months getting better. Drugs, blood transfusion and a bone marrow test and I just randomly got better 7 months later.

So glad that you pushed for a doctor to look at your little one and that she got treatment right away. Such a random immune issue to have. Never heard of it until I fell ill with it.

Good job momma!