Getting Stronger

J has been doing great.  Tonight he made a trip with me to the hospital to pick up something left at the  hospital.  It's not a short walk from the parking lot, and I don't take a very slow pace.  He did a good job keeping up.  I don't think he has walked so far and in such good spirits since before this began.  He is getting tired of staying home all day.  He is ready to get back to school.


We went in for labs today.  For the complete blood count, J has the option of getting blood through a poke in the finger or by accessing the vein.  For some reason he prefers to be poked in the very sensitive fingertips and have the blood milked from his fingers.  The blood flowed well today, it was easy to get the sample without too much milking.   After the blood was collected we were sent away. While waiting for Mom to come pick him up, we noticed the bandage was totally soaked through.  I quickly grabbed some more gauze and J applied pressure on his injury.  Eventually the bleeding stopped and the labs confirmed what was suspected: very low platelets.  No wonder he wouldn't stop bleeding.  His white blood cells were OK, but his red blood cells were also really low.  They probably would transfuse him, but he feels great.  Hoping to pass on getting more blood transfusions or platelets.

Once his platelets are up we are ready to get the urologist working on getting the stent out and getting rid of one or two more medications.  Progress.