Saturday, January 16, 2010

Neutropenia

This is exactly what the doctor told us. This is what Daniella have right now. I put some of simple explanation by Wikipedia. I think it is easy to understand.
Neutropenia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Neutropenia (adjective neutropenic), from Latin prefix neutro- and Greek suffix -πενία (deficiency) is a hematological disorder characterized by an abnormally low number of neutrophils, the most important type of white blood cell, in the blood. Neutrophils usually make up 50-70% of circulating white blood cells and serve as the primary defense against infections by destroying bacteria in the blood. Hence, patients with neutropenia are more susceptible to bacterial infections and, without prompt medical attention, the condition may become life-threatening (neutropenic sepsis).
Neutropenia can be acute or chronic depending on the duration of the illness. A patient has chronic neutropenia if the condition lasts for longer than 3 months. It is sometimes used interchangeably with the term leukopenia ('deficit in the number of white blood cells'), as neutrophils are the most abundant leukocytes, but neutropenia is more properly considered a subset of leukopenia as a whole.
There are numerous causes of neutropenia that can roughly be divided between either problems in the production of the cells by the bone marrow and destruction of the cells elsewhere in the body. Treatment depends on the nature of the cause, and emphasis is placed on the prevention and treatment of infection."

On the other hand we are a little relief that Daniella's condition is not that bad yet. Although, the doctor confirm that she has that disordered because he test her blood again today to make sure it's right. I like the doctor. I love him very much and looks like he is someone that I would let treating my daughter. He looks like he is in his mid age to get ready to retired, but still very diligent, wise,patience and very observant. We were very satisfied with his observation and suggestions.

He said if he met Daniella in different condition, he would suggest different direction, but since he met Daniella in happy and healthy condition, he is totally suggesting another way. For now there is nothing we can do about it. We just have to wait for her progress. Since she can't fight the infection by herself, we have to be very cautious when she get fever, we have to admit her to the hospital. That alone is very scary, it's like something big and yes it is a big deal for her. We can no longer put her on tylenol or motrin and wait until 3 days. She will going to need immediate medical attention. Also, when she has cold after 2 courses of antibiotics she doesn't get well, we need to take her to her specialist to shot her and help her killing the bacteria. It breaks my heart. I just really don't think I am ready for this. This afternoon when the doctor try to draw her blood, it looks like she knew what is going to happen. She didn't cry when the nurse try to find her vein to poke the needle in. Poor girl. She suddenly get use to it and many more will come. I can't imagine it. This is finally answering my question too about how it takes her forever to recover from a cold. As the matter fact, everytime she has fever, motrin and tylenol won't help too much. It only help for the 1-2 hours for her. Also the fact that she get sick easily and need more antibiotics for her cold. Now we understand more about her body.

I think God has purposed in this situation. Although I don't know exactly what, but I'm sure that this will put my family hold our hands tighter together to face whatever in front of us. As her parents we definitely start to get down to our knees and pray for our children. Also it is an exercise for us to put our faith more in Him, the one that holds our future. Think about it, sometimes we take it for granted to have kids. We have kids but we forget that we are not just feeding them food but also nourish them, spend time with them, talk to them, raise them well, and so many things to do with them. Not knowing how long our children will live, make us preserved the moment as much as we could.

Please continue to pray for the miracle and also hopefully she doesn't have to go through scary moment in her life. Although, I can't guarantee that she will not get sick forever (it will be the ideal!) but at least she can minimize it. I hope for our friends not to get offended if we will get really strict about not getting close to sick kids or not to have people to come over with common cold. It's kinda overreacting, but we just never know what could happen. I think the most stressful part would be if she needs to go to the hospital, we still have another 2 children that need to be taking care. We don't have family that we can call anytime. That is what really scares me. Pray for that too.

It will looks like living in the bubble. But I still let her play in the playground, although my heart sank when I think of a lot of things for the consequences. Again I want to let her enjoy her childhood. Today we have a warmer day, I let her play in the playground and she really enjoy it. We thank God that she survive the first year of her life without we realized it. God had been protecting her and He will be. All the glory and praises just for Him. She belongs to Him.

Thanks for all the prayers and concern. God bless you .... !!

4 comments:

Madster said...

The way you approach the problem and still be able to see the bright side of it, really encouraged me, will continue to pray for Daniella.

Btw how come suddenly you discover this? Was she sick before?

Christine Lantang said...

There's nothing much I can do Yen, God is the only one I can depend on since He is also the one that created her. Read my previous entry it has all the details how it start. Thanks for the support.

Unknown said...

Christine,
How's Daniela doing? I'm inspired by how strong you are. Let me know if you need anything. We'll keep praying for Daniella. God has a plan for each one of us and it will be beautiful in His time:)
Hugs,
Lisa

mom7wow said...

Wow, shocking news.
Of course, your friends will understand when you want to be protective! Love, Holly