Elijah is home and in bed after the procedures he had done today. The bone marrow biopsy (BMB) procedure went smoothly. They took 9 vials of blood for a whole series of tests that needed to be done and did extensive dental work. In all, they put crowns on 6 more teeth and placed two caps on his canine teeth. The dentist said that his teeth were in rough shape because of the absence of enamel on them. He was under anesthesia for about 2 1/2 hours and came out of very sore. His biopsy site doesn't seem to be bothering him much, but his mouth is definitely sore.
Going into the surgery they gave him verced (sp?) to relax him. It seemed to help him and he went off to sleep without too much fight left in him. He is resting comfortably now.
We did receive some of the preliminary lab results back. I had to stop looking at them because I was starting to find myself worrying. Lots of his blood counts are out of the normal range. I usually don't get all the individual results until I have spoken with the doctor and they give us a summary of what things look like. I decided that looking too much into the lab values may not be giving me a true representation of how he is doing because I just don't know what I am looking at like the hematologists do.
So, we are praying for Elijah as we wait for all the tests to come back. We definitely know that he is getting too thin and is not absorbing nutrients like he should be. That will have to be addressed soon by the gastroenterologist. The cytogenetic testing of his red blood cells will tell us if their are any leukemic blasts that have developed over the past year. If the testing shows any of those cells, we would prepare for a bone marrow transplant in the near future.
We are leaving all of this in the hands of God and trusting that he is working all things together for good. Praying now that Ellijah sleeps peacefully tonight and wakes up with little pain.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Elijah
The Month of May means Bone Marrow Biopsy to us. Every May, Elijah goes to Minneapolis Children's Hospital to undergo an Bone Marrow Biopsy (BMB) and other procedures that he may need. Today, he is getting some dental work done (he was born without enamel on his teeth), lots of bloodwork and a BMB. He will go under anesthesia for the procedures as they aspirate some of the bone marrow out of his hip bone.
The results of the tests will tell us if his body is moving toward AML leukemia--or other abnormal blood disorders that his syndrome causes. By getting an early look every year, the doctors can move aggressively to plan a course of treatment.
Elijah is very afraid of the hospital and of medical staff. Please pray for peace and comfort for him. We have a nurse starting to work with Isaac today and so we can both be at the hospital with Elijah--we are so thankful that we can be there together to help him through this. The procedure causes him quite a bit of pain afterward. Also, please pray as we wait for the results of the tests today.
