Blood and platelets and bruises OH MY!

That's pretty much what today's clinic visit consisted of. We knew Cora's counts were a little low and probably dropping. I had a feeling that her platelets were especially low because last night I noticed several bruises on her legs, arms, and head. It's amazing how beat up one's head can get when you have no hair protecting it! Anyway, we arrived at clinic at 9:00 this morning and our suspicion was correct. Her platelets were 7, normal range is 150-400. Her hemoglobin was 5.6, normal range is 11-13. Needless to say she needed both a blood and a platelet transfusion. The doctor and nurse both assured me that this was due to the medications she has been receiving and dramatic drops in counts are normal at this point in treatment. So we spent all day receiving transfusions. We got home around 4:00 this afternoon. Cora had fun at clinic. She played playdoh, got beads for her Beads of Courage necklace, read stories, played doctor, and watched movies. After we got home she had more color in her cheeks. About an hour later I took her shirt off to put her in the bathtub and noticed a really dark bruise (darker than the rest) in almost the center of her chest. This was a new bruise one that wasn't there at the clinic. I of course freaked out (as I usually do) and called the doctor. I was just worried that something had gone wrong as a result of the transfusions. But both Dr. Johnston and my father in law assured me that it was probably just still a result of low platelets and to just watch it closely, so we are spending tonight watching the bruise and hoping that by our Thursday clinic visit her counts will be taking an upward swing. Hopefully that will be our last of the transfusions!