Reaction

It seems like we can never have a "normal" easy day @ clinic. There's always something that happens... Yesterday @ clinic Lilly needed a fresh frozen plasma transfusion because her clotting factor was a little "off," platelet transfusion because she was down to a 7, Vincristine (chemo), and the Erwenia shot (chemo). We got to clinic @ 9:00am with the hopes that if Lilly felt well, we could stop by her dance studio and sneak in to get class pictures @ 4:30pm. Sounds reasonable enough. Or so I thought...

When Lilly gets any kind of "blood product" (plasma, platelets, or blood) she gets premedicated with Tylenol and Benadryl. Last week after a transfusion, Lilly had two little hives show up so they premedicate her to prevent a possible reaction. That didn't happen yesterday. :( While she was getting the FFP (fresh frozen plasma), she had a huge reaction and had so many hives they turned into giant welts on her face, arms, and legs. It was so scary!! They stopped the transfusion and immediately gave her two different doses of hydrocortisone steroid. We put ice packs on her cheeks, arms, and legs because Lilly said they felt so hot. She also said her face felt tight like a balloon! Can you imagine how much worse the reaction would have been had she not had the Benadryl? My poor Lilly. She is so brave. I kept asking her (about every 30 seconds) if she could still breathe ok, and if her throat felt itchy or not, and if she could swallow ok. I was a little nervous about the whole situation to say the least. Thankfully it was just hives and it didn't get any worse. 

We didn't make it to pictures on time. It was around 4:30 when we finally left the hospital. Lilly was bummed she couldn't take pictures with her dance class. We got a hold of one of Lilly's dance teachers and they told us to still come to the studio to at least get an individual picture done. Even better, she got to have a group picture with ALL of the dance teachers. There weren't nearly as many people there at the studio, which made me feel better because Lilly's ANC is low right now and she can get sick very easily. 

Lilly felt special and that's all that mattered. Now we need to pray that she stays well and feels well enough to go to the very first part of her dance concert next week. They are spotlighting Lilly and her fight against Leukemia. I am so grateful for Shellie's School of Dance and all they have done for our sweet Lilly.