Day +2 ... The Waiting Game

So after all the anticipation of the transplant day has come and gone now we wait.... The docs have helped me mentally break up the transplant process into phases. Each phase has different challenges and dangers.  First, the chemo conditioning phase which we just finished. Overall I think Sam did fairly well all things considering. Now we move to the second phase of post transplant but pre engraftment. More simply, we successfully got Kaeden's cells inside of Sam but now we are waiting for signs that they are making their way through her body and trying to work. We are hopeful this takes place about day +7 or +8 but this is relatively very early. Earlier than that, and the chemo is still too strong in her body and could kill off some of Kaedens healthy marrow. The longer it takes though, increases Sam's risk of acquiring more serious infections and complications than she currently has. The docs took her off the strongest of the four antibiotics she was on that was treating her g tube infection. Even though they know there's a good chance this infection could return, they were worried she would build up resistance to this strength of an antibiotic and they want to " have it in their back pocket" as they said in case we encounter something potentially more harmful over the next week or so. Currently the primary concern is about pneumonia. She will most likely get a chest x ray today or tomorrow to see if the fluid they are hearing is in her lungs or is more Mucusitis in her intestinal track and esophagus from the chemo. She is coughing and vomitting this mucus three to four times per day now so I am hopeful it is just this. She remains on continuous pain meds and has begun two strong medications 24 hours per day that are meant to help decrease transplant rejection. When we start to see fevers and rashes, they say this can generally be a good sign  meaning it is the beginning of engraftment and hopefully blood counts will start to rise soon after...

Kaeden returned home and has been in a lot more pain than we anticipated but after a good nap, a food and toy delivery from a classroom friend ( including a meal from his teacher), a videotaped get well message from another friend, and an in person mini play session with yet another best bud from school... He FINALLY started to seem more like himself this evening. It has been harder emotionally to see the pain this process has taken on him than we bargained for and it's hard not to feel some guilt at the same time that we are celebrating his donorship. The tears in his eyes as we wheeled him to the hospital elevator to go home as he had to come to grasp with the fact that Sammi and I aren't coming home quite yet was really tough on all of us. Time is a hard concept for a five year old and in his mind "he did it" and we should be back to  the way things were now... No one can argue with that desire! We know getting back to school next week will help him a lot . Brandon and I have been so thankful for the outpour of kindness and support we have received from kaedens classroom community and staff. Thank you thank you thank you!!!!

So now we wait... Wait and hope that  Super Kaeden's marrow starts to work its magic before a more harmful infection takes hold... Counting down the days.... Hours... Minutes....