Where Be Those Matched Platelets??????

So the day at the Clinic didn’t go quite the way we nor the medical teams expected. We arrived at 0800 hrs and got right into the infusion room. Lisa came in on her day off to be sure everything was going as expected. She checked on Florence’s matched platelets to find they were not available. After wrangling with the lab and the Red Cross the platelets arrived about 1400 hours. In the meantime, Florence had labs drawn and then caught some zzzz’s from 0830 till 1300 hours when we went up to the day surgery area.

The platelets arrived at the surgery suite shortly after we did and were being infused in quick order. After 2 units were in the anesthesia resident drew a blood sample since Florence needed to have a platelet level of 50 to have surgery. At least that is what they wanted. The sample went to the lab but it clotted before the test could be done. So the nurse drew a second sample and it came back with a platelet level of 39. Not the 50+ they were hoping for. They checked on another unit but Red Cross only sent 2. Only unmatched platelets were available. Now what?????

The surgical team said they could go ahead and would only use the unmatched platelets if there was bleeding. We explained that Florence’s last platelet infusion caused the levels to drop in half. After hearing that and a short consult the surgeon said he would make room in his schedule to do the procedure Monday if that was acceptable to Florence and that the platelets could be secured this weekend. So Albany General Hospital is securing 2 units for infusion tomorrow while OHSU plans to have 2 more on hold and on hand for Monday so they can infuse them prior to or during the surgery, as needed.

Let’s all keep our fingers crossed…..

As for staying at The Benson Hotel, we were on the 10th floor. Great views and the people looked really small when you leaned out the window and looked straight down. I finally got Florence to do it, too.

Well, we will see what tomorrow’s infusions do and labs tell us. As it stands now, we are back to OHSU Monday morning.

For now it is good night……
Larry