A gift to Suspense/thriller novel enthusiasts....

We had a not-so-funny experience today...or you could look at it as fate's twisted sense of humor.

We ended up in the clinic this morning (unexpectedly) but everything checked out okay, Dr. French was happy with how Maggie looked. They were due to draw some bloodwork to confirm that she is handling the TPN well and that the nutrients are at an appropriate level in the fluids. So they drew blood, took away Maggie's port access (to give us time to give Maggie her first bath in 2 weeks), then homecare was to come out later in the day to re-access her so that we can continue Maggie's TPN tonight. Her port access can only last one week at a time before they have to remove the dressing and needle and give her new sterile replacements.

Well, when homecare arrived at our house, the nurse mentioned that some of Maggie's bloodwork was "funky" and they wanted her to redraw them. We asked what was "funky" about them but she didn't know. This comes on the heels of Dr. French mentioning this morning that the only reason he would check her bone marrow again is if something "funny" showed up in her labwork (i.e., something that would make him suspect a relapse).

I called the hemonc clinic and asked the nurse what was so "funky" about her labs. She said that they indicated that a lot of Maggie's levels had bottomed out (hemoglobin, platelets and electrolytes). I asked what her white blood count was, and she mentioned that it was 3,000 higher than it was on Monday. This sounded really scary. She also mentioned that it was possible that the labs they drew were diluted from the saline flush that sits in her tubing before drawing her labs. So our options were a flawed blood draw, or a set of numbers that looked frighteningly close to what the beginning of a relapse would look like. White cells dividing out of control and pushing other counts down, down, down.

So homecare drew more labs, put a dressing on Maggie's new port access and went to take the blood to the lab. Whitney left right then to go teach a class (good luck keeping any semblance of concentration, dear), Maggie went down for a nap, and we all just waited to hear if the new numbers looked any better.

An hour and a half later, I got the call from the clinic that Maggie's counts were fine....the morning labs were erroneous. It was a rather uncomfortable wait considering the relapse concerns we've had of late. I interrupted Whitney's class with a phone call to set her mind at ease.

Consider that a short, suspenseful story for your reading pleasure. I assume that you are currently sitting at the edge of your seat.

We went out to eat tonight to celebrate surviving another scare. Maggie is eating pretty well (she has lots of interest which is fantastic), her stools are good so far, and she certainly has more energy than in past weeks. We feel good about where we are at right now.

And, I think we sometimes underestimate how strong Maggie is.

Thank you for your continued prayers for our strong little girl.