Oakland Children's Hospital

On Thursday, 10.7.10, we ventured to Oakland the other day to meet the staff and hematologist. We had called to talk to their hemophilia nurse about their treatment center and program, and during the conversation Blake's muscle bleed was brought up. We discussed our concerns and they were willing to meet with us!

The staff there was awesome! We met with the nurses, Jim & Debby, their social worker Kim, & Dr. M...they assessed Blake's thigh and decided he should get another treatment. Rustin and I loved their view/approach to treatment...this visit was really an answer to our prayers!!

So poor Blake...got not one but four pokes! The first stick the nurse started a saline lock...where they drew blood to check pretreatment factor levels (turned out to be 4! Which is great considering it had been a couple days since his previous treatment) and then administered the factor. After, they tried 3 times to collect enough blood for a CBC, post-treatment factor level, and to check inhibitor titers.

They were only able to run a CBC. So as we waited for the results I got to snuggle a sad and snuggly Blake while we talked with the nurses and hematology doctors. The CBC showed Blake's hemoglobin was 9, on the anemic side, so we got a prescription for iron.

Back at home, Blake was his happy self and we were so happy we called Oakland!

Blake got to keep his saline lock because on Friday, Rustin took him to be seen again by the hemophilia nurse and doctor and get a fourth treatment. But this time no pokes!!