February 28, 2008

Chet had been having increased amounts of petichaei and bleeding the week after we got home, so I called his doctor and she sent him in for counts. His platelets were at 3,000, and the lab made a panic call to his local doctor's office. He began making arrangements to get him a platelet transfusion, but he had to not only find a hospital that had the necessary platelets, but also one that had an available bed. As the day went on Chet progressively got worse. He became extremely jaundiced, extremely tired, and lacked an appetite of any kind. I finally got him to eat a frosty on the way the hospital. I figured ice cream nutrients had to be better than nothing at all. It was after midnight before he was finally in the hospital, with an IV inserted, and the platelets began to be transfused. He was given one unit of platelets, and they made an immediate difference. If you are a blood donor, thank you. From the bottom of my heart.... thank you. Chet, and patients like him, are the ones they are talking about when they tell you that one pint of blood saves three lives. In all the years he has been sick, his counts have never been this low or this critical.We came very close to losing Chet that night. I truly believe that the prayers that were being said for him kept him going until the platelets were in place. We are so grateful for our family. We are so grateful for a church family that has provided support and help in so many ways since this began. We are so grateful for a community that cares so much. We are so grateful to the heroes who donate blood and marrow to save the lives of strangers. And we are so thankful that Chet is still here, and doing much better.