Day +105, BMT :: Counting Days, Counting Blessings

100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105...

Just counting days and counting blessings... We have been blessed with one month free of fevers, with 100+ days post-transplant, 200+ days since Jade's leukemia relapsed in March.

It's hard to believe that it has been a whole month since I've updated the blog. Entertaining Jade is exhausting, but tack on her medication and appointment schedules and Jaytoe's homework load and it is a wonder that we pull it off. We sure do miss the nurses and child life volunteers. Jade has been getting stronger and stronger each day, testing the limits of what she can do physically, celebrating everything from eating more solid foods and completing whole coloring books to conducting successful science experiments with big brother and finally sleeping through the night again without waking. Sleeping in her own bed in her own room will be cause for another celebration.

Day 100 is a BIG deal in post-transplant world.  It is a significant milestone that marks the passing of the most vulnerable time for transplant recipients. In the best case scenarios, the mask comes off at day 100, you begin to eat a regular diet, you venture out into public and attempt to reenter your (anything but) normal life.

Jade still has a few more weeks before the isolation restrictions will be lifted. For that to happen, the team will have to  completely wean her off the steroids that are helping keep her GVHD (graft versus host disease) in check and give Jade a special infusion of donor cells that have been training in the lab to fight specific viruses.  At that point, her immune system will be better equipped to fight off any viruses that she may come into contact with this season... Just in time for the holidays with family and friends. Jade says she might want a hot dog for Christmas. ;)

For now, we are at the hospital every week with scheduled appointments and treatments. Jade's light therapy treatments to fight the GVHD will continue for five to seven more months. At some point, they will also begin to treat Jade for iron overload, a common complication for people who receive dozens of blood transfusions over the course of treatment. But today, we are here for Jade's Day 100ish bone marrow biopsy -- praying that her bone marrow remains leukemia-free and is comprised of 100% donor cells. The road to recovery is a long one, but we thank God for firmly planting us on it and surrounding us with awesome friends and family.

Thank you for your continued encouragement and support, for your well-wishes and prayers for Jade and for a cure.