Not much has changed

As of today, there is still no word back from the Mayo clinc and not much has changed...meaning it still appears Finn's blood cells are breaking down at the same rate as before. Tamara, our wonderful nurse that comes once  a week for home care, took labs on Tuesday. They showed that his Hemoglobin has dropped to 7.8, his bilirubin increased to 1.5 and his reticulocyte level increased to 3.5. I will explain the numbers for those who haven't had the biology lesson yet.

Hemoglobin is the part of a red blood cell that carries oxygen through our body. A normal range for a baby is 9-15. When he received his first transfusion back in June he was at 4. A trend downward means the cells are dying off faster than they are being produced (hemolytic anemia).

The bilirubin is what is left over after a red blood cell is destroyed, I call it the "ash". A normal level for him would be .5 to 1. When he was born it went to 21 in the NICU. If the bilirubin is trending upward it confirms that hemolysis is occurring.

Your reticulocytes are your immature blood cells that are produced in your bone marrow. The bone marrow test came back normal, so we know that he is procuing retics the way he should be. The crazy thing about our body is that it can sense when something isn't right and will try to compensate for it. Therefore, a normal level for him would be 1-2.5, but his body can tell that it doesn't have enough mature red blood cells so it starts producing a whole lot of immature ones. At his first transfusion he was over 6.

So after all that...we are going to UNC on Tuesday and he will most likely get another transfusion to get his levels temporarily back to normal. The hope of his body jump starting or eventually growing out of this is still there, but it will be more clear as to what we are dealing with when we get the results back from Mayo. Until then, all we can do is treat his symptoms. Thanks for everyone's prayers and support!

Beau & Craig