Praise God, we learned the other day that the donor passed the infectious disease workup! Things seem to be lining up and the donor is scheduled to donate on 11/27, the day before transplant.  The marrow will be flown out here from Hong Kong for Jeremy’s transplant.

It will be marrow and not peripherally collected stem cells.

We have a few things to prepare before being admitted and a few rules to follow while we are in the hospital.  Jeremy’s clothes will need to be washed and dried in a hot dryer and placed in a sealed container.  His toys will also need to be new, in sealed and unopened packages.  During our stay in the hospital, he will be required to wear socks and shoes anytime he is roaming around the floor in the room.  He won’t be able to leave the room and we are very, very restricted on visitors.  For the last three chemo rounds, our families were able to bring home cooked meals for Jeremy.  During transplant, though, he is not allowed to have any food except for what comes from the hospital’s neutropenic kitchen.  We will all pretty much be in strict isolation.

Matty will be coming along with us.  We’ll need to take extra precaution to prevent Matty from passing anything to Jeremy and to protect Matty from the chemo that will be administered.  We’ll need to gear up with mask and gloves when changing Matty’s diaper, same with taking Jeremy to the potty.  We discussed bringing the entire family in with the doctors and they’re not very concerned about Matty since he’s a younger sibling and a nursing infant.  Nursing infants are the only children they allow in the bmt rooms with patients.   Older siblings are a risk because they go to school, play dates, etc. and pick up all sorts of germs.  Alice and I had many discussions about it, too.  In the end, we decided that being with Jeremy as a family had more benefits than risks.

Today was a busy day.  We had a few errands to run in the morning.  We also got a call from the bmt nurse coordinator, checking in to see if we had any questions. We mentioned that Jeremy’s had a runny nose for a little while and we were wondering if he had a cold.  The nurse wanted us to come in to get him evaluated.  They had a to do a nose swab to start cultures to see if anything would grow out of it.  Regardless, I think we’ll still be admitted on 11/18.  The doctors just want to be aware of everything going in.

The nose swab was quick, but really uncomfortable.  It wasn’t the rim of the nostril or anything simple like that.  They had to insert the swab pretty far in.  Jeremy hated it and cried after it was done.  The crying was brief, though.  What a champ.

We are busy getting everything together for the day of admission.  There’s a lot of preparation, both for bringing things in and for post transplant recovery.  We’re doing as much as we can and when we are admitted, our families will take over from there.  Curtains need to be washed, carpet steam cleaned, counters and floors bleach cleaned, etc.  We are blessed to have our families completely invest themselves in Jeremy’s health and well-being.

Praise God:

  • for His continued provision, comfort, and peace
  • Jeremy remains fever free, eating well, and full of playfulness and energy
  • Jeremy’s donor passed all necessary exams and is a suitable donor

Please pray:

  • that God would continue to use this situation for His glory
  • that we would be obedient to God’s plans for this situation
  • that we would continue to cast our worries and fears on the Lord, that we would fix our eyes on Him
  • that we would continue to be reminded of God’s greatness and provision, that we would wait on Him, and that we would not allow fear to creep in
  • that we would rejoice in the moments that God gives us
  • that God would provide full and complete healing and total health for Jeremy
  • that God would provide with the whole process of finding a bone marrow match, the risks of transplant, and the anxiety of it achieving long-term remission for Jeremy
  • that the potential 9/10 donor would follow through with donation, so that a haplo transplant can be avoided and thus avoiding total body irradiation
  • that Jeremy would not have any brain, liver, lung, kidney, pancreatic, heart, or any other type of organ damage as a result of the chemo and antibiotics
  • that God would protect Jeremy from any bacterial, yeast, fungal, or viral infections
  • that Jeremy would clear the congestion/runny nose
  • that nothing would grow out of the nose swab done today
  • that there would not be anything causing the runny nose that would be harmful to Jeremy during chemo or transplant
  • that Alice and I would not get sick in order to care for our family
  • that baby brother would nurse easily and sleep well
  • for our neighbors who are also enduring trials of their own
  • for our parents – that they would have rest and place their trust in Jesus and receive His comfort
  • that God would give us wisdom in teaching Jeremy in the hospital environment
  • that we would be witnesses of God’s love and grace to our neighbors and the medical staff