Caden had a good day today. I only say that it was a “good” day because he did have to get an IV line so that he could receive a blood transfusion. I want to share some really exciting news before I get into the details of the blood transfusion. Caden may get to transfer out of the PCICU as early as tomorrow. One doctor said that Caden is looking so good that many of Caden’s doctors are comfortable with moving Caden to a regular room on 7C. The doctors will reevaluate Caden tomorrow to determine if they are going to transfer him. I will keep you posted.
Caden’s blood test results would have justified a transfusion a few days ago, but Caden did not have an IV line to deliver the blood into his body. His little body has not picked up the task of making red blood cells fast enough yet. Babies have a normal tendency to be anemic at about Caden’s age. Some of the red blood cells they get from Mommy start to die before the baby’s system is ready to generate new ones. This natural tendency for all babies plus the fact that Caden had a major open-heart surgery and he looses blood to these tests is what caused the need for this transfusion. His red blood cell count has been creeping down very slowing for several days just like that of a normal five-week old. The doctors hoped that the red blood cell count decline would stop before reaching a level that would justify them putting in an IV just to deliver the blood. So that is how and why Caden got an IV line today and a blood transfusion.