Thursday, July 1, 2010

Addison Update

Tuesday we took Addison back to Texas Children's for her monthly visit. She wasn't scheduled to go back until July but since her last platelet count came back really low (21) the doctor wanted to see her sooner. We still don't have a diagnosis but our long list of monthly test are starting to pay off. The results from last month showed she had elevated IGG levels which is a sign of CMV (a common virus that infects most people at some time during their lives but rarely causes obvious illness.) This time Dr. Lakshmi did blood work to check for that virus so we can make sure that is it. We should find out if it is positive in a week or so and then we will go from there. It did get our hopes up that we may get a diagnosis but we really got our hopes up that her platelet counts were up to 111. 111 is still not in the normal range but is much higher than what Addison has had. The doctor told us we could be excited but we still needed to be cautious that it could come back down again. We are starting to be able to tell when her platelets drop or go up by the number of bruises she has and we both felt confident that her levels went up before the doctor even told us.

We are really hoping this is the end to a 4 month long question. Poor Addison has already learned what is going to happen when she gets to TCH and as soon as the nurses come to take her vitals, weight, etc. she is screaming bloody murder. She caused quite a scene and the nurse wasn't able to get her blood pressure. Even when the doctor examined her you would have thought we were having a wrestling match with her. She just really hates being held down! After we left she was extremely worn out and fell asleep almost immediately when we put her in the carseat. On the way home we treated her to Willie's, okay so it was really a treat for mom and dad but Addison had a great time checking out everything and she even tried the fried pickles and french fries.     
We had to keep her entertained for over an hour waiting in the waiting room so here she is digging through mommy's purse and looking out the window.
When we finally got into a room the wait didn't get any better so we played ball. I've learned to pack toys that she likes and that keep her busy.
When we left we let her ride forward facing in Bryce's carseat and it must have been comfy because she was out.

1 comment:

Cindy Wellmann said...

That is really good news that the platelet count is up! Also, the indications that it may be a virus is wonderful! Maybe she won't have to make those trips too much longer! I'm praying for that!