A Gory Day (Not For The Faint-Of-Heart)

The long expected move to the hospitality house was delayed today because of a setback that began last night. I think I mentioned yesterday that Krista had an increase of bleeding, though it wasn't all that bad. Around 4:00 am they drew some blood to check the levels and shortly after that she lost about a pint of blood in enormous clots. The red blood count that they measured was 10.1, but the doctors could see that was definitely not reflecting the current situation.

Krista and I prayed about the problem soon after and asked Jesus for healing and wisdom. After we finished praying, Krista said that she felt like there was a reason that we weren't supposed to leave yet; that there was someone else she was supposed to meet here first. I wasn't sure what to make of that, but agreed that it was better to stay here until the bleeding stopped.

The previous diagnosis was that the bleeding was from a hematoma near the urethra from when the bladder catheter was taken out. The hematoma is still a problem, but it was visibly obvious that it was not the cause of this bleeding. The team assumed that it was due to a low-platelet induced period, and gave her one pint of platelets (to try and stop the bleeding) and a pint of red blood (to offset the loss). To give you an idea of how much blood was lost today, her red count after the transfusions was 8.5. No wonder she felt weakened today! They are giving her two additional pints of red blood tonight to bring her back to a good level.

The platelets that they gave her were from a random donor. I don't know why the patient-directed donations haven't been available. I put a call into the blood bank but haven't heard back yet. Thank God that the platelets she got were a good match! Her platelets are up to 29,000 this evening, and it does seem to have slowed down the bleeding.

There was some reluctance from the team to bring in a gynecologist, but at our insistence they finally did. Apparently, the gynecologist we saw last time was actually a student, and with all the guess-work that had been going on with the various hormone therapies, we wanted to stop guessing and get a real diagnosis. A real gynecologist showed up this time and did a real exam. She even had a good explanation for what the bleeding was. She said that the estrogen IV Krista received caused a buildup of tissue. When the IV was stopped the tissue naturally begins deteriorating and would typically be cleared out with a normal period. With the low platelet condition, however, Krista began to have a "super period". This gynecologist prescribed progesterone to thin the tissue, saying that it should stop the bleeding once the platelets stabilize.

We don't know if the gynecologist was the one that God had intended Krista to meet or if there's some other appointment coming up this weekend. Meeting with her was certainly an answer to prayer, though.

Janelle was feeling better today, and she did really well with all the gory stuff. Once the grisly activities were wrapped up, Natalie and Carissa came up from Torrance to visit. Having them here was really nice and it helped keep Krista's mind off the trauma of the day. Thanks for being such good friends and family!

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.
(1 John 4:7-12)