one day left to live series - 7 months and 6 days

A Drama day!
It was around 4 in the evening, I was feeding Sripathi Alimentum. There was a call and it was his pediatrician. She said the results of the anemic test was out and that Sripathi's hemoglobin levels were dangerously low. She asked me how he is doing and whether he was bleeding? But to me he looked fine. No issues no blood. So then she said that she had already discussed his situation with a hematologist at Florida hospital and that they would be contacting us as soon as possible. Then she mentioned something that made my heart drop. She said the hematologist is suggesting to run further tests on him at the hospital and possibly he might have a blood transfusion. I asked her for more details as in the numbers that refer to his low hemo. It was 5.5 and the normal range is between 11 and 14. They were also concerned about his seizures. So she said that after they run the tests they would contact the doctors at Texas children's hospital to discuss and decide on the blood transfusion.

I called Aravind and told him what i heard, he said he would come home immediately. I had actually recorded what the ped had spoken so I called my good old friend Dr.Lekshmi ji at Houston and asked if she had time to talk. As always she is a gem and gave me time. I played the recording with all the technical details. I just want to hear from her that things are okay and its fine to go ahead with a transfusion. And yes that's what she said and she seemed concerned about why he became anemic. She said giving Sripathi a unit of blood is fine and would cause no harm rather it would make him feel better but its highly important to find the reasons for anemia.

Within an hour we received a call from the Florida hospital and they said that Sripathi needs to be admitted today, but before that we need to bring him into the ER soon. So after giving Sripathi his regular seizure medication, we left after an hour just to make sure we don't get stuck in the evening traffic. In the ER they asked us the background, they drew some blood from him, the resident doctor Dr.Jan, checked him and she also said he looks fine. Yes the doctor was Indian like us. She got the complete picture of Sripathi's medical history and then said that she would contact Dr.H from hematology with the results and see where they want to head from there. Shortly the nurse and doctor were back to draw more blood :(

I'm not going to mention anything about Sripathi's reaction here, its obvious he was terrified. Now within 2 hours of coming into the ER and having the blood work done Dr.Jan told us that we may not be required to stay in the hospital . yeee! Looks like the obvious reason for his low hemo was because of very low iron. So she said that he will have to take supplemental ferrous sulphate daily. Well actually it takes 2 to 3 months for the bone marrow to absorb the supplements so in the mean time the hematologist will see Sripathi the very next day in his office. So the blessed child had his first dose of ferrous sulphate at the hospital, saving himself from blood transfusion.

Today by 10.30 am Sripathi had his seizure medication, nursed then had his second dose of Iron supplement and was sleeping in my arms in the hematologist's office. So here we were explaining the complete history to Dr.H one of the best hematologists. He said that he wants me to check my blood work and in the meantime i need to take Iron supplements too. He said that since for now it is obvious that its because of iron deficiency that Sripaathi's hemo levels are low, he wants to continue the iron for a couple more days and check back on him. So we'll be meeting him on Tuesday again, when they'll check if Sripathi is able to absorb the supplement. Only if they see any hitch in that would he recommend any further tests related to bone marrow, or his genetic issue or epilepsy or even consider the blood transfusion. Because even given the very low levels Sripathi is physically showing no signs of distress.

So we are now home with our blessed baby and perfectly sure everything is fine.