More Excitement than he Wanted

While I had to go earn our daily bread today, Tyler and Andrea kept each other company at the hospital.  Tyler got a CT scan to make sure that the pain in his side is not related to any kidney problems.  Thankfully, they don't see anything wrong with his kidneys.  Unfortunately, we still don't know what is causing the pain or how to fix it.

However, at some point this afternoon or evening, Tyler had some phlegm that was so deep in his throat he was unable to cough it up or suction it out.  This means he was unable to breathe for a few minutes.  Thankfully his nurse and his mother were in the room at the time and they were able to get assistance.  But it does mean that Tyler had a pretty serious and very scary setback today.  He is absolutely wiped out now.

His mouth has been scraped raw again from trying to get suction deep into his throat, so he is not ready to eat or drink anything after that.  They are trying to get his platelet count higher, but there is apparently a shortage of platelets at the blood bank.  Platelets actually don't last very long, so they need frequent donations for them.  Tyler's blood type (B Negative) is a tough one to match, so they typically have been giving him "reduced volume" platelets.  The reduced volume platelets have most of the blood type identifiers removed.

But this does bring to light the fact that we really need to get out there and donate blood!  I would hate to find out that they can't get a bag of platelets or packed red blood cells when Tyler needs one.

Only two tablespoons of platelets are collected from each whole blood donation, so (especially if you are B Negative) you might want to consider an apheresis donation.  This is where they extract your blood, spin out the platelets, and then give the rest back to you.  Your body will replace the platelets within 72 hours!

To find a whole blood drive in the Puget Sound area, you can search out a blood drive in your area.