Monday, June 27, 2011

A Juiced Two-Year-Old...

It's been a little over two weeks since the little Miss was diagnosed with ITP, placed on steroids to bring up her platelets, and sent home from the hospital for us to freak out over monitor closely.


Since then, things have been a bit interesting in the Jackson casa.  First of all, have you ever lived with someone who has a large dose of steroids coursing through their veins?  No?  Well, let me enlighten you.  


First, the little Miss has a mean case of 'roid-rage' every afternoon around 4 pm. During this time, for roughly 10 minutes she repeatedly screams:  "NOWAYNOWAYNOWAYNOWAY!"   
It's really precious.


As suddenly as it begins, it ends just as abruptly when she picks herself up from the floor, hugs me and says, "sorry mommy."  
Yeah,  it's freaky.

There's another little side effect from the roids...the munchies.  Our day looks a lot like a page from the Eric Carle book, 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar.'


Have you read the story?  Basically a teeny, tiny, little caterpillar pretty much eats his way through the entire food pyramid in a week:


Like the caterpillar, the little Miss is a bottomless pit.  Unlike the caterpillar, she is not building a chrysalis, but rather juicing.  I think I even heard her exclaim, "Feed me Seymour!" during a particularly hungry day.  I don't believe Eric Carle would appreciate me paralleling steroid usage against the story line of his children's book. 

With all of the negative side-effects, the positives far outweigh the negatives.  As of last week, the little Miss's platelet levels were a whopping 253,000, placing her in the 'normal' range!  She's responding much more quickly than the doctors anticipated and we are rejoicing!  We are slowly weening her from the steroids, and waiting on today's CBC results.  If her numbers continue to be high, then the doctor will continue to lower her dosage.  We hope she is able to be steroid-free in the next week or so, while continuing to monitor her platelet levels weekly.  

We are so thrilled that her health continues to increase, and are so thankful for all of your prayers!  Keep them coming, they are working!

5 comments:

Mary @ Giving Up On Perfect said...

Ohhh, I don't envy you the roid rage! I heard a lot about that when I worked for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (kids on chemo took a lot of steroids). In fact, on the few occasions I've been prescribed steroids for asthma problems since then, I've been too afraid to take them for fear I turn into an angry, eating monster!

Despite all that, I'm so glad to hear that your little girl is doing so much better - even if she is juiced!

Jami said...

Oh friend! Praying for continued healing for your little one.Praise the Lord things are headed in the right direction! I feel like all my kids are constantly eating so I'm right there with you ;)

Emily said...

Hysterical description of the side effects, but strangely my three year old has all the same symptoms yet no 'roids! ha

Laurie J said...

keep that sense of humor :) I'm keeping your fam in my prayers til all the roid rage is over and those numbers stay where they need be!
<3

The Schiebers said...

Still praying for you and your little druggie :) Hope the 'rage' ends soon, and that you all are doing well! Love you so much :)