Today's blood test showed Annie's platelets did not drop and her hemoglobin went up from 8.1-8.2 (normal for children is 11-13). This is promising as we'd expect it to drop as the transfusion wears off. Hopefully this indicates that by increasing her cyclosporine (immunosuppressive medicine) back up again we can keep her from needing transfusions while a treatment plan is being explored.
Thus Annie gets a green light for another week at school. One of her teachers recommended practicing visualization techniques and Annie had her first success with it this morning. Last week the phlebotomist had trouble tapping into a vein for Annie and it was a weepy experience for both of them. This week, Annie visualized her blood moving to the draw site and things went perfectly. Then she spent the car ride to school brainstorming visualizations for the proliferation of her blood cells and their happily sticking around. Her final choice was of polka dots popping up all over and then doing a kind of vibrating salsa dance ... I'm pretty sure it's just a matter of time before this procedure gets published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
I do quite a lot of visualization exercises with my patients at St. Joe's. There actually are articles in reputable journals about how our spiritual side can facilitate healing. I live Annie's imaginative ideas for allowing her mind and spirit to heal her.
ReplyDeleteIn a very real way, she is gaining a modicum of control over a stressful condition. God wants healing and wholeness and Annie is allowing God to work with and through her. Spiritual healing can precede physical, can make blood draws less painful and can have an impact on her length of stay in the hospital.
Love from your chaplain.