May 22nd, 2025

Oliver had a fever overnight (to be expected with no counts) so we had to start antibiotics overnight. He woke up with a little more energy this morning and was able to play a little bit before taking another nap. The combination of fevers, no counts, and pain meds is making him pretty sleepy.

Since all his counts are at zero, he needs frequent blood and platelet transfusions. Platelets are cells in your blood that help with clotting. They only have a shelf-life of five days and are used for cancer patients, premature babies, blood disorders, etc.. To donate platelets, blood is drawn from the donor’s arm and passed through a machine which separates platelets and plasma from the rest of the blood. Once the platelets or plasma is collected, the remaining blood is returned to the donor.

If you live near Raleigh/Chapel Hill and would like to donate platelets, you can find more information here: https://www.uncmedicalcenter.org/uncmc/patients-visitors/blood/

If you don’t live in our area and would like to donate, check your local hospital to see if they have a platelet donation center. Thank you for considering!