Whoa, move over chemo, time for some Rhinovirusing

So Andrew's amazingly explosive diarrhea has become a thing of the past, replaced with a watery running nose, itchy red eyes, and a little man who refuses to nap. We put a swabby up his nose to see what was causing his symptoms, and it turns out it's a rhinovirus. Whew! Man, if you had to make me choose a virus to give Andrew at this point, Rhino would be one of my top picks. If I remember right from virology, it causes about 50% of colds and lives in your nose because your body temp is too hot for it, hence the "rhino."

It's been a rough week overall, just because the solution to everything for Andrew is mama. He wants to be held all the time, although it's gotten better in the last 24 hours. Makes it hard to get out at all, and I've found myself staying up late talking to people in the unit for some social interaction. Stew has been so helpful when I need him most (very late at night), holding Andrew until he falls into a deep sleep. I didn't realize how tired I was until Stew told me that a few nights ago that he was half-shouting at me right above my head asking if he thought we should give Andrew some oxycodone, and I didn't respond.

One of my more social/outgoing activities lately was going to give blood at ARUP. I didn't realize this, but they are the sole provider of blood for a bunch of hospitals up here, including Primary's. My crit barely passed at 38, though. Compared to Andrew, though, that's pretty high.

I've been meaning to donate blood for a while now. I'm keeping a faithful tally, with 4 more transfusions to add to the total this round (two RBC, two platelet). The platelet one on Friday was a bad one, though. His blood type is B+ and they only had AB+ platelets, which is what they gave him. I'm going to insist they match next time though (even though they don't have to), because I think since it's only leuko-reduced that the contaminating red cells of that AB donor were what gave him this huge nasty rash on Friday that had him screaming for hours. Doesn't matter if it's irradiated--if it has red cells in there, the antigen will still be there. I really should have known better--I just wasn't thinking. No fun, but I've learned my lesson.

Anyway, Andrew's still zeroed out for neutrophils, so as long as you're over 14, you wear a mask, and haven't been sick for 2 weeks or around anyone who's been sick for at least a week, you can come visit. I have so many people to thank for calls, visits, dinner, etc., even though it's been 4 months since Andrew was diagnosed with cancer, you're all still going strong! The speaker up here on Sunday talked about how important it is to be grateful, especially when you're having a rough time. I think that's probably hard for conventional wisdom to understand, but I really feel like it's true. We're really so grateful for the support, everyone, so thanks!