Good News and.... Not so Much.

Rhen is a match for Chloe!

But... they were unable to collect enough cord blood when he was born so they cannot use it.

So I was excited for about 30 seconds, until i found out that it really doesn't matter right now since they can't use the cord blood anyway. Apparently the amount that can be harvested at birth can vary. Sometimes they can collect quite a bit, other times not. Might have to do with the doc's experience doing it, size of the placenta, cord or whatever. I don't have the answer and the Bone Marrow doc didn't either, he just said there is not enough for Chloe. So we're out of luck on that one. I guess it is reassuring to know that he could be a donor if she ever had to have another transplant, but lets all hope that never happens. I'm pretty sure we're good with just one time.

The cord blood donor they have located in the bank is better than most they have to work with in more ways than one, so that is a plus. Looks like we'll be in SLC every day next week for meetings about TBI (total body irradiation), bone marrow protocol, side effects, finances, home nursing, nutrition and so on throughout the BMT. It should be an exciting week.

In other good news, Stacie made it through 1 more year being married to me. 11 yrs [4017.664189 days] today. I ask her to think of it in years or at least months because 4017 days just seems like such a long time.

Also, Addie and her cousins Joni and Jamie spilled 10,000 beads on Josh and Stacy's floor - on purpose. Addie says it was Joni's idea - sounds like Elsie's to me. There really were 10,000 beads - at least so it says on the box. Kelly may be getting some payback for that Christmas gift in the future. Stacy will be cleaning those out of every nook and cranny for years.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. We are so used to having a bunch of family around and being up at my parents for a few days - it is a little weird to just be by ourselves at home. But, it's great at the same time to just be together with our new little boy. Stacie really needs to just relax too. Thanks to Stacie's planning ahead, Santa still managed to visit us. Addie, Chloe and Elsie had a fun time with their new dolls and scrubs. They have been practicing being nurses taking care of each other, their dolls - and Rhen. He probably feels a little smothered at times. Elsie just wants to be around him all the time.

So when he was born they took some blood samples to send down to Primary C's but as our luck goes, the Courier left the blood sample in his car for 3 days - they just found it this morning. I don't know what he was thinking - maybe he wasn't. Seems like some blood samples might have some kind of priority to get delivered before they are no good, but he must have had other things on his mind. It happens I guess.

So Stacie had to take Rhen in for a poke this morning, then they called us back saying they used the wrong tube(?) so the poor little boy had to go back this afternoon for another poke. I guess it had to be done today to get testing complete by Friday. We won't know if he is a match until next week at the soonest I think. If he is not, we have another donor lined up and ready to go.

It's a releif to have Rhen here and the pregnancy over... but it's a little unnerving at the same time since it puts us that much closer to the BMT. We have events in our mind of what leads up to the transplant... like Christmas, Birth of baby, etc. We're running out of things that will happen first, so now the scary nervousness is setting in - well, more than it had before.

I told Jen Jacob i'd post some more pictures of the man of the house, so here they are. You can click on them to make them bigger. The one with him crying is cute, but i probably should have helped him instead of taking pictures. I think Jen is getting excited to have their little boy who should be coming in just a couple of weeks. We're excited to see him too. I just hope he likes to sing and dance because Rich loves singing and dancing (that may or maynot be true).

Christmas Gift

Rhen Jacob was born tonight at 6:29 weighing in at 6 lbs 10 oz and 19" long. He's a pretty good looking kid I think. Everything went well and the baby and mom are doing just fine. Both are tired and taking it easy and should be coming home tomorrow or Monday. The girls were all really excited. Elsie reminded me that he can't go back into mom's tummy, so we are going to have to keep him forever. And he's going to pull her hair.

We had another anonymous gift left at our door today while Stacie and I were gone. Thank you so much whoever you are. We really appreciate all of our thoughtful neighbors and friends, you are too kind. Callie, sorry Chloe wasn't up to eating the dinner you brought over... she is a little picky these days, but everyone else enjoyed it. Thanks.

chlo-pants the smarty pants

It was so good to have chloe come home with Jake! We had fun just haning out and being together. Jake said her mental evaluation was great! The Doctor said he usually has some recommendations for the kids but she didn't need any. One of the tests she was taking she reached where 15 year olds start and could keep going! What a smarty pants. He said she will have no problems developmentally. I am so thankful for that! I also am thankful to "some families in Providence" who unexpectedly gave us such a wonderful gift today! Tears filled my eyes at the generosity of who ever you are I hope you are blessed in return. Thank you, thank you!

I 'll be home for christmas!

Chloe 's counts went from 200 yesterday to 1200!! A christmas miracle, as Addie would put it! They get to come home today! We are soooo very excited! She has a dental evaluation and some phyc (?) evaluation for like 3 hours to test her mental abilities before the BMT and they test it after to see if there were any affects from the transplant and radiation etc Then homeward bound! It has been such a hard month for us so we appreciate all who have prayed for our family! We are so thankful for family and friends that surround us so may you have a wonderful christmas! We will keep you posted when jake jr comes on saturday! It is a good day today!

we will take as little counts as we can!

Chloe's ANC's are up to 200!! We are excited they are on the rise and though they are still low at least they are registering! We are hoping that Friday she can come home if they continue to come up. Kins stayed with her last night and although she had to go to the bathroom alot from her Cdif they had fun together. It was soo good to see Jake all day today, I think he got even better looking and his muscles got bigger (if that is possible)! (-:
It was fun to spend the day with him even if we were tired and I am 8 1/2 months pregnant. Elsie kept calling him around the house making sure he was still there. And when he answered she would smile and say, "oh I thought you had gone back to the hospital." It was weird to have Jake home but not have chloe there too. We miss her so much!!

Perspective.

This place has a way of giving you some. I was just out in the hall and overheard another dad talking to a nurse. The dad is in a wheelchair (not sure the story there), they are here with their son (for cancer obviously ) and his wife just underwent some cancer surgery/treatment a few weeks ago.

Always have to be grateful for the shoes you're in. There are plenty that are more uncomfortable.

Jake gets a break!

Tonight Jake will be able to come home to visit for a day. Kinsey was so nice to come and stay with chloe so that he can come and see us for a day! We can't wait to see him! The girls are excited to see him, and Addie gets to stay home from school. Thanks so much Kins! Chloe will have fun spending time with you!

From Jake: I should add here that lots of people have offered to come down and give me a break. I have said no because I'm a worry wart and I've wanted to be here - even though neither of us want to be here. I was finally persuaded I guess.

Anytime

We're just waiting for some blood counts to come up. Anytime is good for us.

A couple of high school buddies dropped by for a visit today. Thanks Brett and Jerrin, it was good to see you guys and talk about the good 'ol days when we had no worries, but our parents did. We're all getting some grey hair, but I have them both beat.

No great news today. Chloe has Cdif again which we weren't too excited about. Good thing (i guess) is that it's caused by the antibiotics and not some kind of infection. So she started taking an antibiotic to fight the side effects of the antibiotics. She had a CTscan today to check our her insides to make sure there were no issues we need to be concerned about. The doc was worried there might be something happening in her bowels causing her the pain. Don't know the results on that scan yet though. She also had an EKG done this afternoon and will have an Echo and Hearing test tomorrow.

The tests are just to make sure everything is ok before the bone marrow transplant. She will have a dental eval on Friday, then back on the 28th (happy anniversary Stacie - 11 yrs of delight) for a spinal tap, bone marrow aspirate and placement of another line - either PICC(in her arm) or a third in her chest. She's not excited about that - at all.

Looks like the beginning of her rough ride will be on the 7th of Jan.

Dew Beverages Boost White Blood Cells?

Is it just a myth that a caffinated beverage like Mt. Dew or Coke would boost white blood cells?

I thought we might prove the myth wrong today, but I can't come to a conclusive answer for two reasons. One, Chloe wasn't really interested in the Mt. Dew and drank a minimal amount. Two, her white blood cells rose today to 0.2 from 0.1. Would her white blood cells have been greater had she drank the entire can? Or is it merely coincidence that her count came up. I'm leaning towards coincidence.

I might have to write into Myth Busters for the answer because I just don't have enough evidence to prove one way or the other.