Monday, January 11, 2010

Update on Eli

Eli's platelet count was up to 6000 today. He was at 3000 Sunday night, which is why they wanted to keep him at the hospital last night. Normal range is 150,000 to 450,000 per cubic millimeter. They had told us at the Urgent Care facility that he'd have to have a transfusion if he dropped below 20,000, but so far they haven't felt the need to give him one at the hospital. They've been giving him an oral steroid along with an antibiotic for his ear infection and an antacid to counteract the heartburn that the steroid can cause.

He's still in good spirits, though Rebecca said he's getting a little stir crazy from being cooped up in a hospital room all day. I'm sure Rebecca's feeling restless as well! She asked if they could walk around the hospital a bit and the nurse said that would be fine if Eli wore a mask. Well, Eli would have none of that, so they stayed in the room. I took the Nintendo DS and his favorite game, Nintendogs, to the hospital today and he seemed to enjoy that. He even managed to win a disc competition with minimal help from me. That's pretty impressive for a kid who turns two next month!

Hopefully we'll have some more good news tomorrow and Rebecca and Eli will be able to come home. It sounds like he'll be on the steroid treatment for a while after he comes home until his platelet levels normalize. At that point they'll see what effect a lesser dose has on his platelet count. For now, I'm just trying to keep up with our other three kids at home!

1 comment:

Bentley Bunch said...

So glad that Eli is back home now. That must have been very scary with the numbers dropping so radically. We are so thankful that you took him in to get the care he needed. We will continue to pray for Eli's recovery.