Praying for Platelets

Tonight our prayers concentrate on platelets. We are asking that Ashley's body make some very much needed platelets tonight as she sleeps and heals. We still have not been able to receive the infusion we were admitted for. They don't have any platelets available at this time, but are working with the blood of donors who gave today trying to make a match that she won't create antibodies against.

We brought her in with a level of 15,000, it dropped to 13, 000 and the lab didn't believe what they were seeing. After her infusion of the "universal ones" last night her levels dropped again to about 11,500. Spontaneous bleeding can begin at a level of 10,000. She's dangerously close to that number. She could begin bleeding around her ostomy site, her g-tube site, her central line site, a nosebleed, etc. Just the removal of a piece of tape on her chest caused bleeding yesterday afternoon. Without platelets her skin is just that fragile.

Our hope is that her bone marrow will begin to produce and her body would generate a new batch of platelets tonight. If her numbers come up overnight then they would like to send us home with her to keep her safe from any other bugs or possible hospital acquired infections. She has not had any breakthrough tremors or fevers in almost 24 hours now so we are encouraged that this combination of meds might have it under control. After 5 days of frightening episodes it would be a blessing to not see her body ache and shake with the spread of the bacteria throughout her blood stream.

Everyones' best guess is that this infection caused her body to become so suppressed that she was unable to generate platelets and she depleted her supply. Her immune system is very suppressed and she's using all her energy to battle the bacteria and has not been able to make any new platelets.

I've seen bigger miracles happen in her life overnight, and I'm confident that her platelet count could indeed begin to rise on its own. I've seen God do bigger things than this many times when situations seemed hopeless. Home would be blessing for Ash right now, but only if she's in a safe "place". Tomorrow morning we will check levels and make a decision. Your prayers for platelets would be appreciated.