Counts down

Above is a picture of Stacey with Malcolm at the waterfront,where we went for a walk yesterday while he was out on daypass. Next are a couple of shots of Malcolm in the playgarden and one of Donovan and Malcolm petting the dog that visits the playroom sometimes. Malcolm's ANC dropped to 396 so he was not permitted to leave the hospital today. His platelets were 93 and hemoglobin was 92.

Every morning Malcolm must have bloodwork done and standard procedure is for this to be done around 7am. So regardless of whether or not he is sleeping, his finger is "poked" (in reality, a small incision is made) and enough blood is squeezed out to fill one to three small vials. Often a single "poke" is not enough so his finger is cut twice, or even three times. Needless to say, after several weeks, his fingers are a black and blue mass of small cuts. I spoke to the doctor about this again yesterday and she very kindly raised the issue with nurses (apparently this is a nursing practice and therefore the nurses' jurisdiction) and there is agreement that from now on they can instead draw blood through his central line at noon when he is hooked up to his IV for naptime. So no more finger pokes first thing in the morning (unless he gets sick in which case they will want his bloodwork earlier in the morning again)! This will mean a much better start to our day every day. It is too bad they were unable to come to this decision last round.

Mary Ellen