Low Counts, Admission and Saying Goodbye

This weekend ended up being bittersweet for the Christiansen family. We had a fantastic time on Saturday morning at the Pancake Benefit with all our friends. And it was great to see everyone, especially those we hadn't seen in so long. Then on Saturday evening we received some sad news. Our friend Lucy, whom I have written about previously, earned her angel wings on Saturday afternoon. Lucy put up a huge fight with this awful cancer and her courage and determination were awe inspiring to those around her. Although we didn't know her well, we feel a connection with her and her family as they have been walking this road with us. It takes an amazing amount of strength, determination and grace to face this monster and Lucy did an excellent job. Please pray for her family as they try to find peace in losing such an amazing little girl.

We then awoke Sunday to hear that Jeremy's Grandma Lippold had also earned her angel wings. Grandma Lippold was an amazing woman - strong and independent. She raised 5 wonderful children and had a whole slew of grandchildren and great-grandchildren - one of which is Miss Avery Anne. She has joined the Team Avery Team in heaven and will be rooting on our continued fight from above with Grandpa Joe, Grandma Johnson, Chuck, Grandpa Lippold and Lucy. Please pray for Jeremy's family as they too attempt to find peace with her passing.

We had a rough night last night, as we could tell Avery's counts were down and her hemoglobin had dropped. She was restless all night and struggled to get comfortable. Our appt this morning was at 8:30 and I expected to have to get transfused, but imagine my surprise when the nurse indicated her hemoglobin had dropped to 6.9 and her platelets were 4. Needless to say, this is extremely low in both cases and she required a transfusion of blood and platelets. The process for all of this is slow and we spent the whole morning waiting....waiting for counts, waiting for blood, waiting for a room. As we were transfusing blood she spiked a fever and BAM! in patient we go! Once again we cultured her blood and started her on antibiotics.....C Diff here we come.

After filling up her tanks, Avery was feeling much better and has been on the move all afternoon. She had a visit from Great Grandpa and GJ before they have to leave tomorrow. Nana is staying the week, which comes in really handy as Jeremy will be driving to IA tomorrow to see his family and for services. We spent Halloween here in the hospital, but are determined to not spend Thanksgiving here. We'll see how that turns out. For now, Avery seems to be better although her fever is teetering on the edge of 100 degrees.

A rough weekend for us by far, but we are hanging in there.

Jenn