Thursday, December 3, 2009

Day +70 (Harper's 1st Birthday ...)

First and foremost Hunter wants to wish his little sister, Harper, a Happy Birthday! He talks about her every day, including her in his bedtime routine. He understands (to some degree) she is home in L.A. and often tells us he misses her. We are all sad to be apart for this particular milestone. We look forward to having both children together, happy and healthy in 2010.

Hunter's clinic visit on Tuesday went well. He decided during his blood draw he wanted to sit in the exam room chair by himself as opposed to in my lap as usual. He said I needed to pull up a chair and sit next to him. "I'm a big boy, Daddy!"

We spent most of our clinic time with the Nurse and Physician's Assistant discussing Hunter's short-term plan. Initially, Hunter was supposed to taper off steroids by Sunday, December 13th. However, since Hunter's particular disease doesn't benefit from a small amount of Graft-Versus-Host-Disease like some others, the doctors decided to leave him on steroids through his Day 80 evaluation. This evaluation will be a detailed work up of where Hunter is post transplant. He will undergo a bone marrow aspiration, skin biopsy, opthamology and dental exams, and extensive blood analysis.

Today Hunter went to his physical therapy appointment. He continues to make progress and shows no signs of last week's movement issues. He truly enjoys the various activities since it is one of the few times during the week he gets out of our (isolation) apartment. Tomorrow Hunter has his routine blood work, weekly nasal wash and IVIG appointment, which is now every other Friday.

Hunter's physical therapy appointments are at Seattle Children's. We make a point to visit Ashley and her family before or after each appointment. Ashley recently finished her THIRD round of chemotherapy in her battle against AML. Please, please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. She is an amazingly strong young lady who loves our Hunter and has connected with him in a very special way. www.caringbridge.org/visit/ashleykealohaaven

2 comments:

  1. Nous sommes ravis de continuer à lire des nouvelles encourageantes d'Hunter. Vous êtes en route vers une nouvelle vie avec des enfants réunis, heureux et en bonne santé !
    On vous embrasse et tout spécialement Harper qui est trop mignonne sur les photos !!
    Sylvie et les garçons.

    PS : On pense aussi très fort à cette courageuse petite Ashley...

    ReplyDelete