Shots, Rashes,. Oxygen and immunization

Friday's shot was a bit more than I bargained for. I called the clinic in the morning and they said that I just needed to come in and they would give Alivia the shot. The goal of the shot is to lessen the severity of chicken pox if she gets them or to negate the chance of getting the chicken pox. Well we got there and while we were on the way there they realized that the company that had been making the shot stopped making it. So there was a new, experimental version that we were going to be given. I had to read a bunch of papers, meet with the nurse and the doctor and sign waivers. After we got the approval to be in the study they gave the shot and then we stayed around the clinic for a while to see if she had an allergic reaction. She didn't so we got to go home. It was a hard for me to sign those papers but the alternative was the risk of chicken pox which will be horrible at this point.

Saturday she developed a rash. It is all over her right leg and some on her left. It looks like rashes she's had before and is very itchy. We talked to the nurse triage today and they thought it sounded like a normal rash from some sort of irritant. So we will call the clinic tomorrow and see if they feel the same way. There haven't been any other problems with the rash (fever, shortness of breath, lethargy, etc) so I"m not worried. I just feel bad for her that she has it.

Friday night the alarm on the oxygen compressor kept going off. We weren't sure what it meant but noticed that Alivia's O2 was hanging out around 93%. This is much lower than it had been at night with the oxygen so I was a bit nervous (didn't fall asleep till after 1). But it held steady at 93 or 94 so I went to bed. The next day we check the machine and the canilla (the thing that goes in her nose) and realize that it wasn't working at all. That meant that she went a whole night without oxygen without us realizing it. She hasn't had oxygen since and the levels have gotten better each night. Also the doc said that her lung x-ray we had on Thursday looks almost completely normal. Woo Hoo.

The exposure to chicken pox has brought up the issue of immunization. Not for Alivia but for others. We asked the doctors what to do about being around other kids that weren't immunized in the future and they said that it wouldn't be a good idea. They said for at least a year after the transplant we shouldn't be around anyone that isn't immunized. This has a huge affect on our lives. We knew that being around any kids would be not possible but a long time but didn't realize the rules would be different for kids who aren't immunized. That means that until at least a year after transplant our family won't be able to go to church together again. This is a hard realization for us. I knew that after the transplant church wouldn't be an option for at least 6 months. I didn't realize it would start so soon but for Alivia this is the safest thing and so this is what we have to do.


Please pray that the rash clears up, that there are no adverse reactions to the shot and that she doesn't get the chicken pox. (at this point the chicken pox would probably mean pneumonia, liver damage and possible cataracts).