Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Day 0 (BMT)

The day started with a nice banner:
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Unfortunately, Timothy couldn’t keep his food down and wanted to rest all morning.  At 12:47 pm, the infusion began.  It was a small bag of fresh marrow dripping down through his IV line:
















Because of Timothy’s reaction to some of the meds, the infusion lasted 2.5 hours.  He was closely monitored throughout and afterwards.  Timothy slept through the infusion, thanks to Benadryl. 
He woke up feeling refreshed and wanted to “play” with daddy and Claire :).  He barely ate today and will start his IV nutrition (TPN) tonight.  We have never seen him refuse food… that is until this week.  Hopefully, he will gain his appetite back soon. 
We were warned it would be anticlimactic.  And it was and it was fine.  Now what?  We just WAIT.  It takes about 2-4 weeks for the marrow to grow.  3 weeks from now, they will test to see if his new marrow is growing in his body instead of his own.  This period of waiting is also a period where Timothy’s immune system will be most vulnerable.  We have to be very vigilant, so he won’t contract ANY germs.  We do not want any sort of infection.  Additionally, the doctors will monitor him closely for any graft (donor marrow) rejection and/or GVHD (Graft Vs. Host Disease – this is where the donor marrow attacks Timothy’s body as it recognizes its foreign nature).  GVHD can manifest in many levels and degrees.  Timothy is at more risk since his match was unrelated and not perfect. 
Thank you for your AMAZING support and prayers!  We SAW it ALL over Facebook :).  Thank you for your continued encouragement through all your texts, messages, and emails… Thank you.

3 comments:

  1. Happy New Birthday, Timothy! So exciting! We look forward to the day that you get your first negative CGD test! You all will continue to be in our thoughts and prayers!

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  2. Thank you for posting! Praise God for anticlimactic! And continued prayers your way. :)

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  3. Soo go hess uh yo. Praise God indeed!
    Everybody at New Life will continue to pray for the new marrow to successfully set in.
    Hope you guys can get a little rest now.

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