Platelet Wars II: A New Hope

The bottom of the valley has been reached, and though we are still in the thick of the battle, we are reminded of the reason for our hope: God is for us.

Last night, we think that God did a little miracle for Krista.

The day started off with notice that her platelet count was dangerously low at 3,000. There was blood in her urine, and she was having pains in her bladder and kidney areas. We learned later that this is very normal for a low platelet condition, but there is always concern that there may be problems with kidney function. The blood-work didn't show any signs of kidney problems, and at some point in the evening, the blood faded in the urine.

To deal with the low platelet problem, the doctors wanted to get HLA-matched platelets. Unfortunately, they weren't available -- and wouldn't be available until Thursday at the earliest. Since the counts were so low, the doctors went ahead and transfused some unmatched platelets. Krista's body fought against those, via a mild fever near 38 C (100.4 F), and her count dropped to 2,000.

She slept most of the day, fever up and down, pain up and down. Another bag of unmatched platelets arrived in the evening, and they gave them to her even though her temperature was high, above 38 C (100.4 F). After the transfusion, the fever went way up -- to 40 C (104 F) -- and stayed around there most of the night. We applied ice packs to bring it down, but it wouldn't budge. She was finally allowed to take some Tylenol around 3 a.m., and then the fever broke.

Early this morning, Krista said to me, "My [platelet] counts are probably zero." I had to agree. All that fever should have wiped them out. The labs came back a short time later. We were shocked to learn that they had actually gone up to 7,000! So, it looks like there may have been a small miracle taken place here. For those of you who were praying with us... thank you, and praise God for the encouraging sign!

Even with this divine intervention, though, the platelet wars are not over yet. A platelet count below 10,000 is considered dangerously low, so there are more transfusions to come. We were hoping that the platelets would be in today, but just got word that they may not be available and she may need to get more unmatched platelets. Keep on praying! Don't let the gory details get you down either; the doctors expect to see most of it and are very encouraged with the progress.

We'll try to keep you up-to-date on what to pray for, but in between updates let God show you what to pray for. He knows best anyway!

In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;
and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
(Romans 8:26-28)