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First uncontrollable nose bleed – 71 days inpatient – Sunday, January 31, 2016

On February 1, 2016 by Michelle Love

Sunday, January 31, 2016…71 days in the hospital

Yesterday was a first for BJ, and he stayed true to his motto of Go Big or Go home. His platelet count was 3k yesterday morning, so the team decided to transfuse a unit of platelets. The majority of the day was normal. We watched a few episodes of The Blacklist, and took naps. Around 5pm, BJ had his very first nose bleed, both nostrils. They held pressure, gave him squirts of Afrin, and ended up transfusing another bag of platelets, since the morning bag was fairly small. It stopped for about 20-30 minutes, and started right back. More Afrin, more cotton, more pressure, and ice packs on the back of his neck. The right side ended up stopping, but the left side kept bleeding. This went on until past 1am this morning, when the decision came, after a very frustrated momma prodded, to give him another unit of platelets. It finally stopped bleeding sometime early this morning. Morning labs showed BJ’s platelet count at 28k after those 3 units. (Low end of normal range for platelet count is 150k.) His hemoglobin level dropped some (to 8.9), but not low enough to need a transfusion today. There is a platelet shortage in the Charlotte area, so if you donate, now is a really good time.

BJ’s night has made him completely exhausted today. He has been battling nausea all night and day today from the large amount of blood he swallowed during the 9-hour nose bleed. He is also back on oxygen at 1 liter, because his saturation level keeps dropping while he is asleep. He hasn’t felt like eating much today, but accepts a small amount of the food that I keep offering him.

He’s still as tough as they come. Even with seeing the large amount of blood loss…seeing the rags piling up with his own bright red blood on them, he was overwhelmed but held strong. I wasn’t going to post a picture, but decided to put this one out there to show the reality of what kids go through during cancer treatments. This was BJ’s first nose bleed, but he has been fortunate. Chemo drops the blood counts, and when platelets are very low, bleeding is usually inevitable. Kids with cancer deal with this scary thing quite often.

We feel the strength from your prayers, and continue to be thankful for all your prayers and encouragements! God has this, we trust that completely, and in Jesus’ name, BJ WILL walk out of this hospital cancer free!