He's Home!

They sent Max home today. They didn't even transfuse platelets, because they were still at 41. He got a huge bump from the transfusion yesterday and his hematocrit was 37, so he should be good for red cells for a while. His ANC was up to 680, too, which is nice. They were thrilled by how well Max did. So, we packed up and headed home with a huge bag of medicines and a chart of what to give when. Max got his cyclosporene (twice a day for the next six months) this evening and took it very well. He pretended to give some to the Buzz Lightyear Build-a-bear that he got at the hospital from a wonderful woman. He got to take a stethascope home, too, and has been "listening" to everyone's hearts, and feet, and ears, and.....

A home health care nurse comes on Monday morning to check his CBC and also his cyclosporene level, which was a little lower than they want. I guess there is a perfect level that they are shooting for, and we will fiddle with the amount he gets every day until we reach that level. They expect to need to transfuse platelets soon, and Max has an appointment at the clinic on Tuesday afternoon for that. However, that could change. Ideally, he should be able to get most or all blood products going forward in the clinic, which will be much nicer than having to do it in the emergency room or the pediatric ward.

We are very pleased with the care that Max has gotten up to this point. I can not say enough good things about Mass General's pediatric ward. He didn't really want to go home at first, because he was having so much fun there, and the staff is excellent. We feel very lucky to have such a good hospital so close to us.

Now we are back to watching for fever and bleeding and will have to go to the hospital for either one. Other than that, we give Max his medications, check his blood levels regularly, and wait to see if this is working.