Yesterday, Lauren had a transfusion of both blood and platelets. Her counts continue to drop and she is consider neupogenic (meaning she is highly susceptible to infections). She had a slight temperature this morning and since she is neupogenic, anything over 100 is a concern. She was at 100.4 this morning. We texted Nurse Tina who told us to take her temperature again in 45 minutes. And if it was still at 100.4 to call back. After 45 minutes we took it again and her temperature was back to normal. Luckily, we didn't have to admit her, since tomorrow the girl scouts are coming to the Ronald McDonald's House to cook dinner, play games and carve pumpkins. I, unthinkingly, told Lauren about it. Hil reminded me that we shouldn't plan too far in advance because now Lauren is excited and would be very disappointed if she couldn't participate. We try to keep her from thinking that her condition is preventing her from having fun.

Some of you have been asking about donating platelets and blood. If you are giving blood or platelets only for Lauren, it's probably too late for this round since she probably won't need any more transfusions after tomorrow, and it takes 3-4 days to process the blood before she can get it. Timing is everything. Platelets only have a shelf life of 5-days and it takes approximately 2 hours to collect and you need to make an appointment a week in advance. How hospitals are able to keep up with the demand for platelets is beyond me. For Lauren's next round I'll do a better job of communicating when a good time to donate is. Thanks for asking about and thinking about it. We really appreciate it. Thank you.

Lauren hasn’t complained of any headaches since we've been staying at the Ronald McDonald's House (knock-on wood). I’m thinking this is because we haven't been staying at our mold-infested home, speaking of which:

As I wrote before, the mold inspector really freaked us out when he informed us how incredibly high the mold spore count was in the master bedroom and bath. He said that it was dangerous for us to go in there and needed to be sealed off and quarantined until they could come in with their hazmat suits and air scrub the room for 48 hours, scrub the walls and carpet, wipe down everything, and that they’d be going through all of our stuff, either bagging them or wiping them down. He then gave me a very extensive and costly estimate. He said due to our child’s condition and her being out of the house, you really need to move on this now! So we agreed to what he was recommending with the work set to begin last Tuesday. However, the more I thought about it...and if I there's anything I've learned from Lauren’s situation, it is to always get a 2nd opinion. Therefore, I contacted two other mold remediation companies.

I sent the mold test results to a 2nd mold guy. He called and said, "This mold count is not bad at all. I’ve seen other homes with mold counts 100x this. I could find you 5 other microbiologists that would tell you that these counts are borderline." He wanted $450 just to come out to inspect our house, but it could be counted towards the actual remediation. But I told him to hold on and that I was not ready to commit. I wanted to check with some other companies first. I can’t afford to give every inspector that kind of money just to come out.
The 3rd mold guy said it was a pretty high mold count and he wouldn’t recommend us sleeping in the room, but he did say what the 1st guy is recommending is ridiculous. He also said he was concerned that the spore count in the air was high for the black mold, but the direct mold sample from the floor indicated a low black mold count. Therefore he thinks there might be another source where the mold spores are coming from. So he wants to do sampling throughout the house.

So who to believe?? It was easier picking an oncologist and treatment plan for Lauren than picking a mold remediation company. I can’t tell if they are carpet-baggers and they are using Lauren’s condition to take advantage of me or what. Luckily, a friend of mine knows the owner of a mold remediation company. I sent him a copy of the lab report yesterday and will be meeting with him tomorrow at the house.