Is it that odd?

If Clara ever buys lottery tickets I would say her odds of winning are fairly decent.  After all, her odds of having Down syndrome were less than 1%, her odds of being born with a congenital heart defect were less than 1%, and now if she has cataracts her odds of having those were 1 in 5,000 (a fraction of a percent, but I'm not going to do the math).

Her growing list of problems have been on my mind all day.  The pediatrician called this morning.  I was expecting his call, too.  What can I say--my gut has been on target lately.  She still has jaundice (I knew it), but it is an acceptable level and we'll just have to monitor it.  But, something new has come up.

The morning after she was born the pediatrician had come to visit with me and discuss his findings.  One of them was her blood platelet level being somewhat low at 91,000.  He wasn't too concerned but just felt he should mention it.  Then when we had gone for her first office visit it had gone up to something like 120,000.  Well, results from the blood draw yesterday show it is now down to 52,000.

I looked this up via Dr. Google.  The medical term for her condition is thrombocytopenia (I doubt I will ever attempt to pronounce it, though in my mind I do.  It's easier there.).  According to WebMD if her levels fall below 50,000 excessive bleeding could occur during injury.  150,000 platelets per microliter is the normal level.  She is way below normal.

The thrombocytopenia itself isn't a major concern; the greater concern is the cause.  Something is causing it so her doctor is sending us to a hematologist on Friday (who happens to office at the children's hospital) so we can hopefully find out.  The pediatrician said that after talking with her they suspect it could be a virus that was dormant in me and passed on to her.  He did say a specific virus but my brain didn't retain it.  It was busy recording information it thought was more pertinent.  If it's viral that's fine.  We'll move past it.  In fact, I'm just going to keep my fingers crossed that's all it is.

I told my mom this morning that now Clara has three unknowns.  The severity of her heart condition (though the doctor said yesterday it sounds strong), whether or not she has cataracts, and the cause of her low platelet levels.  Mom was quick to correct me that there were four unknowns, adding her feeding problem to my list.

The feeding problem is the only one I feel I can fix and that is my focus for the rest of the week.  Come Monday she is going to weigh more.  I am determined.

Oh, and Clara's odds of having thrombocytopenia at birth?  Less than one percent.