Day 36

 Here we are at day 36 post transplant. We've been in the hospital for 47 long days, an eternity. But we have much to celebrate! Tessa's counts are continuing to be strong; her platelets are growing by leaps and bounds. There has been very little bad news in Tessa's recovery so far. She is still on a very high dose of steroids to control her GVHD (Graft vs. Host Disease), but the docs have begun the slow taper of those. We will have to continue to watch and make sure that the GVH doesn't flare up, if it's not kept under control it could become a chronic problem which would be horrible. Aside from that the HHV6 virus is responding to the course of IVIG and Ganciclovir. However, the EBV counts have gone up. The docs are not putting her on any meds for this, but just continuing to watch.

The amazing news comes in the wake of Tessa's first bone marrow aspiration and biopsy post transplant. The doctors were clear that they really didn't expect to see much so early post transplant, and Casey and I both really questioned the need for the procedure given that there will be another performed at 60 days. But what they found fills me with hope and, ironically, fear. Tessa's marrow shows that she is producing both white and red blood cells on her own. There were no abnormalities in her blood. But the thing that makes my breath catch in my throat is that they saw no fibrosis on her bones, and there was already evidence of remodeling. What happens inside me whenever I think of this is overwhelming. There is an explosive reaction of hope and elation immediately followed by an intense fear. I am afraid to really embrace this news in fear that the other shoe will drop. It has been so many months of not knowing what is wrong, being afraid, watching Tessa suffer, going into this transplant not even knowing if it would have an effect on her bones. And now... could it be so "simple"? Will she actually get better and eventually morph back into the happy little girl she once was? Why does this triumph scare the crap out of me?

The other piece of wonderful news is that we are finally being discharged on Monday!!!!! We are all so excited to be getting out of here. There is no question that the next chapter will be a long one (even longer than our hospital stay), and in some ways it will be even harder. There will be little support compared to what we have had here at the hospital. I will miss our nurses tremendously, they are a group of the most wonderful women (with a sprinkle of men thrown in) I have ever known. At Noni and Papa's it will be just me and Tessa. Casey will be gone much of the time, working and doing some home renovations that are badly needed and can't be done while Tessa is in residence due to being immune compromised). It's probably more scary than anything else, I'm sure we'll be fine. We will still have Noni and Papa and Casey's family around. And I know that my family will help as much as they can too. But we'll be there until April 21st, barring any complications (that will be 100 days post transplant), and right now that feels like an eternity. Did I mention that's it's wonderful news that we'll be getting out? :)

Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts, they seem to have worked so far!!!

Building castles out of plastic cups. The most fun is knocking them down!

In recovery after bone marrow aspiration/biopsy.

Reading with Auntie Dee Dee.

Mommy sacked out and Tessa opening Valentine's cards from Noni and Papa.

My favorite Valentines! 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Playing soccer with Ashanti, a 9 year old on the unit.

Hanging out with Nana, Poppie, Uncle Mattie and Auntie Wendy (who won her way into Tessa's heart by wearing an all pink jumpsuit-clearly this girl is awesome!)

Tessa is no longer hooked up to an IV pole! Here she is cracking up at Uncle Mattie as he pretends to be her pole.

Daddy getting his blood pressure taken... perfect of course!

Thank you for all your support. We are looking forward to moving on out of here! Keep the cards and letters coming!