Loving Taylor

What started out as a normal day at PCH turned into one of the scariest days of my life. Taylor needed a platelet transfusion today. Her platelet levels were extremely low and she had even had a small amount of spontaneous bleeding from her gums in her mouth. We had some issues with the blood bank not having the exact match to transfuse her with so her transfusion was put off until this afternoon. Finally after waiting, the oncologists decided that we needed to go ahead and transfuse her with platelets that were not an exact match. We have had to do this once before and Taylor did fine with her transfusion. Taylor was pre-medicated with Tylenol and Benadryl prior to the transfusion. The RN stayed in the room with Taylor and I while she was being transfused for the first 15 minutes (if someone is going to have a reaction it usually happens within the first 15 minutes) and Taylor was doing well. All of a sudden, Taylor started coughing horribly and started vomiting. She vomited quite a bit and could not stop coughing. Within seconds, a rash started spreading all over her body. I called the RN in immediately and while she was here, Taylor started having trouble breathing. Either her tongue was swelling up or her throat was swelling up. I don't think I have ever been so scared in my life. Her oncology team was immediately in her room and more Benadryl was given. They also gave her a large dose of steroids to help with the reaction. With in about 30 minutes ( the longest 30 minutes I have ever experienced) she started breathing better and the rash started getting better. Throughout the ordeal, she was only able to whisper and could not talk normally. Finally, she was able to talk (but only very quietly). After about another 30 minutes Taylor was back to normal. She was very tired but was wanting to watch TV and order dinner. She ate pretty well and watched a movie. It was like nothing ever happened!!! She is so amazingly resilient....it is unbelievable. She is sound asleep right now. The plan for the night is to continue with Benadryl every 6 hours. There is also a chance that when the steroids wear off (around 3:00 am) she could have another reaction. So....she will be watched extremely close all night ( no sleep for me!!) If she does have another reaction, more steroids will be given. Please, please pray for Taylor tonight. I truly can't explain how scary today was. Please pray for no more reactions to the platelet transfusion.

Tomorrow is their birthday......4 years old. She is very excited. I have a huge surprise for the girls tomorrow but will post about that tomorrow.

For tonight, I am mentally drained....will post tomorrow.

Please pray for Taylor.