On Friday, Isabella went into the clinic for a standard blood count. As expected, Isabella’s white count was zero (meaning she is neutropenic and highly susceptible to infection), and her red cells and platelets were low as well, so they gave her an infusion of both. Typically, Isabella spikes a fever within a couple days of being neutropenic and we were fully expecting to be back at the hospital by now. Thankfully we are still home since Isabella has not spiked a fever yet. And not only that, but she’s actually feeling pretty good. She’s had pretty good energy and her appetite has picked up.
One thing we asked our doctor to do is to prescribe some antibiotics so that we may be able to prevent an infection. Once Isabella gets an infection, which are accompanied by a fever, then we need to stay at the hospital for a minimum of 5-7 days. So we’re keeping our fingers crossed that these antibiotics, and frequent hand washing will keep us home until her blood counts recover.
Since Isabella is neutropenic, she will not be going to school, so Charlie will be sitting in her spot.
Finally, Isabella’s giant clump of hair, which had been clinging to her head by just a few strands of hair, finally came off today. She wouldn’t let me take a picture of her afterwards, so she’s definitely feeling more self conscious about it than the first time she lost her hair, but she definitely hasn’t lost her beautiful smile.
I hope to be able to show that in an upcoming post.