April 17th, Day -9

Hunter and I had a pretty peaceful first night.  Our floor is quiet, and it will take some time to adjust to getting vitals taken every four hours around the clock.  The nurses have been wonderful.  Hunter's conditioning phase began today (chemotherapy getting his body ready to accept new marrow).  He had a couple anti-nausea IV bags starting at 7:30, and around 9:00 his busulfan arrived.  It was a little surprising to see our nurse walk in the room all gowned in protective gear holding what looked like nuclear waste.  Then we attached it to Hunter's port.  This bag took two hours to drip in, and the following four hours included blood draws every 30 minutes to check how his body is processing the drugs.  He gets his busulfan every 6 hours for the next 4 days.  This drug is designed to kill his marrow.  It also can cause some pretty nasty side effects, so please pray that he is spared from those.  The evening dosage will be adjusted based on how his body reacted to his morning dose.

 The conditioning take several days to work.  Hunter probably won't feel any different until close to transplant day when his levels drop.  While he still feels good, Jana and I tried to run several errands to get Hunter settled.  He had brought mostly long sleeved tees for the hospital, but quickly figured out that won't grant very good port access.  Jana and I are still trying to get comfortable in the area, and don't feel extremely safe running errands alone.  While Hunter still has an appetite, we are trying to stuff him with food that sounds good to him.  In the last few days we have eaten/gotten takeout at Cheesecake Factory, Pappadeaux, Pappasitos, Chipoltle, PF Changs, and Five Guys Burgers.  Not too shabby.  Our credit card company might wonder what's going on with us.  Ha!  It finally feels like our hospital room is stocked with snacks, drinks, and comfy clothes for the hard days ahead.  When Jana and I arrived back at the room Hunter was free of his IV pole for the first time since we checked in.  It was a nice break for a few hours.  

We opened up our daily gifts (Thanks Debbie and Ashley) and are just about ready to check off 4 of our 16 busulfan treatments, and mark another day off our calendar.  

A post is just not a post without some cute kiddos, so I leave you with some of our FaceTime pictures from last night.  It was so good to see three sweet little faces.  I got lots of kisses and close ups of noses.    It does my mommy heart good to lay eyes on our guys.  Our families have got everything under control on the home front, and we are busy kicking CGD's fanny here in Houston.  #teamHanner