Day +17

 Day +17

WBC: 1.0 (up)

ANC: 80 (up!)

Hemoglobin: 9.0 (up)

Platelets: 14 (down)

His hemoglobin stayed high enough to not need blood today, but his platelets are still rushing to his liver because of the VOD, so he needed another platelet transfusion today.  Between just feeling generally icky and the benadryl they gave him before getting platelets, he spent the majority of the day sleeping.  
Bernie the origami volunteer was at the hospital today, so he came in and offered to fold with us. ZiLong wanted a panda hat, but he was not up for folding it, so he asked me to make it with him.  Let me just say that Bernie is a paper folding genius.  He developed the book of hats himself and the folds are pretty complicated make the most amazing hats.  The Panda hat turned out good and because Bernie was showing me the folds on a small paper, to copy, we also ended up with a Tiger size panda hat as well, both of which were able to elicit a smile from ZiLong!

I also learned today that Bernie spent a number of years in South America studying spectacled bears, that during his career he was a wildlife biologist.  It's always so interesting to find out people's back stories!  We had one of our favorite nurses today as well- Polly- who also has a pretty amazing backstory.  She worked in the food industry for a number of years and ultimately ended up teaching culinary and home ec in a high school before choosing to go back to school in her 40's to become a nurse with two young children at home!