Hemoglobin.....

Last weeks' visit to CHOP got us some 'interesting' lab results.  Babygirl's hemoglobin had dropped from her usual 10.5 to 8.7 - a relatively huge drop in her body's ability to get oxygen from one place to another.  Her LDH (an enzyme found in liver, bone, blood and a couple other places) was high,  implying that something was destroying her red blood cells (as opposed to the idea that she was quietly bleeding to death into her GI tract or something).  This drop took place over six weeks, and if the process continued unabated we could expect that in another six weeks she'd hit 6.9, which is beyond critically low. That degree of anemia means (in an adult) that I'd have to admit you to the hospital for a transfusion since you'd be considered too unstable for outpatient transfusion.

It is a testament to how much I've adjusted to our crazy life that I didn't do the math on this until now, a day after we got her new lab reports.  Don't get me wrong - I wanted the results of the new labs, and if CHOP hadn't called I would have contacted Babygirl's local doc and asked him to track down the results.  I know that if I hadn't had them before we left for the beach that I would have worried some, and I'm so over having to think about anybody's health while on vacation.

So her hemoglobin on Sunday?  9.5.  It's not a healthy number by any normal standard (and the normal is 12.5 - 14) but I personally think it's rockin' awesome.  Her LDH, incidentally, has returned to normal, so whatever process (likely viral) that triggered this is probably winding down.  Do I care what it was?  No.  Not at all.

I've changed the way I think about this from a year or so ago, haven't I?  Rechecking the blood work and getting the results was an item on my mental "to-do" list, not a total gut-wrenching adrenal-squeezing obsession.  It is healthier for both me and Babygirl to stop obsessing.  Cutting our visits to every six weeks means I have to let go of the minute-by-minute updates we were used to.  The updates that made us completely, uselessly nuts. 

Timing is everything on these tests.  If we tested a week earlier, or later, we'd have missed the drama altogether.  Now that I've seen that in action a few (hundred) times, I can relax more about the blips and glitches, and trust that things will correct themselves.

Now that I'm thinking about it.....did they even check her kidney function this time?  LOLOL I don't know and I don't care.

DeeDee