I was confident that this appointment would be brief and Dom’s levels would be fine. Quite the contrary. When the nurse attempted to draw blood from Dom’s central line…it didn’t work although it flushed ok.

We were sent to X-ray to try and find out the problem, and then sent to the lab so Dom could have blood drawn from her arm. She hated the X-ray, and cried for the blood test. A screaming newborn was having blood drawn at the same time and the mother had her head against the wall bawling. I remembered how Dom’s first blood test was traumatic for me and how a blood test is the least of my concerns these days.

We waited in the clinic and finally discovered that (good news first) Dom’s blood counts are excellent. And Secondly, that her central line has slipped out of place and she will most likely require surgery to fix it. What an unexpected blow. Surgery is supposed to be an extremely rare event in one’s life and it is suddenly a common occurrence in Dominique’s.

We were prescribed more medication. An antibiotic called Septra to prevent Dom from getting Pneumonia which could be fatal to her. This is given 3 consequtive days (mon, tue and wed) twice a day and Nystatin to prevent a yeast infection from the Septra. We are supposed to try and give Nystatin four times a day!

Dom has another blood test March 28, 2002 before the Easter weekend.

Time spent in the hospital on that day: 3 hours.