Day +19-22

T is a CHAMPION!!! He is such a good baby for what we has had to go through and what he will continue to go through! I am so excited to announce that T does not only know his animal sounds like a BOSS (See video on Facebook. It will make your day. I promise) but ALSO T's body has started to accepted the Transplant and officially engrafted on day +20 which was 6.8.2017!!! Engraftment means that his body has started to produce the new WBC from the donor on his own. We had to give him a little boost with some medication called neupogen, but it did wonders and was safe to give. His numbers went from pretty much 0 to 1400 in about 8 hours. The engraftment takes place when his ANC level reaches 500 and above for so many days and it has stayed above that! :) T still is struggling to eat/drink but they say that takes time because his body has a long road of recovering from chemo!

The plan from here is to keep letting T recover but also for him to get ready to leave the hospital. Unfortunately, this does not mean home to St.G and it is also a big task to get him ready. To be able to go home T needs to be off all strong pain medications. This med is called Dilaudid and he was getting a continuous dose. On 6.9.2017 we halved the amount he was getting continuously to see how he would do. He did Great! So Today 6.10.2017 we stopped the continuous dose completely. With that comes a little bit of the effects of withdrawals, such as the shakes, irritability, and pain. They did not take this med away completely. We are still able to give T a push of pain meds here and there if needed.

Along with that, in order to be discharged T has to be doing well at taking his other meds orally and swallowing them! This is probably the hardest part because T will take the meds but then he will hold them in his mouth..... FOREVER! Also, he will sometimes lose meds by throwing them up, or eventually drooling them out because he holds them for too long in his mouth. We have the hardest time getting him to swallow his meds. There are alternative options to getting him these meds and that will be what's called an "NG Tube." This will also help us to be able to help him get the nutrition that he needs, AND help his stomach to wake back up and start working again. This is most likely what will happen.

With all of that, the doctors goal is try is to try and get us out of here by NEXT WEEK!! AHH that makes me so happy but at the same time nervous!! He will be much more happy and be able to go outside. However, that also means more chances of germs that could make him sick and we could end up back in the hospital. His immune system is still very low and weak but should continue to make its way up and get stronger, it just takes time getting it there. We will have multiple follow -up doctors appointments in the following weeks up to Day 100. If all goes well between now and then, around day 100 we should be able to get back home to St.G


**** TO TANNER: OH MY SWEET BOY! I am so excited for you! We have come a long way to this point and we still have a ways to go but it has been 100% worth it. You have been such a great little boy. Besides taking your medications, you have been a dream patient in my eye and I think all the eyes of the nurses. All of the nurses fight over you! They will call in the day before their shifts and request you as their patient. If they don't get you, they will still come in and check on you. They all want you to marry their baby girls. You better still be a good boy growing up so you can marry one of them because meeting their moms I would be 100% GREAT with you to marry one of their daughters. T I am so glad I was able to go on this journey with you, but can you make me a promise?... Well OK you really can't, but lets not do this again!! It wasn't fun. It was hard, but it was a blessing and life changing experience. We ALL have grown so much from this experience and if I had to do it over again for you, I would do it without hesitation and not change ONE THING. I LOVE YOU TANNER BOY! Stay strong and brave in all your days! XOXO MOM!


Pictures of our Day today! 6.10.2017