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Thursday we took Derek to a Hematologist, blood specialist. He looked Derek over and said he looked very healthy. Derek weighed in at 14 lbs 2 oz and 23 inches long. The Dr. looked over his past test results and said that his hemoglobin levels have been in the normal range, low end of the normal range. But just to be safe, he wanted to do just a few more tests. Kevin and I looked at each other and I could read his eyes saying, “not again!!”

So two nurses came in and one held down Derek’s arm, I was at his head and Kevin was holding his legs while the other nurse poked around in his arm for a few minutes. Sadly, we have gotten use to this. It started out just like it usually does, the nurse moved the needle around in his arm for a few minutes. After these long minutes Kevin asked how much blood they needed. When she said 2 ML, we both almost started crying. A couple of minutes later the nurse hit his vein in just the right spot, and within seconds the tube filled up with 2 MLs.

The nurse called me back later that afternoon and said the good news was his hemoglobin levels were great (10.6). However, his platelets were REALLY low. Since they hadn’t ever had a problem with the platelets, she thought that his blood might have clotted and all the platelets are attracted to the clot, which makes the platelets in the blood that they tested really low. She asked that we take Derek in the next day to get just a little more blood to test the platelets.

I took him in the next day for an itty bitty poke in the finger, which he still wasn’t too excited about (neither was I). Late Friday afternoon they called me and said that his platelet levels were normal. I still haven’t talked to the Dr. yet, but to me I think this means he’s in the clear and we can stop poking him. I haven’t promised him anything yet, but I am so excited that he might finally have a clean bill of health.

Can it be, my boy is as healthy as I always thought? I think we can finally celebrate!!