Today has been a good day. Hunter's white count has finally come down to zero. His nurse told us he should feel like he's been hit by a truck. He has still managed to complete his reading for the day, ate a good breakfast, go for a good walk, and to eat a bowl of soup for lunch. After his afternoon nap, he plans to shower. He's pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.
Hunter is still sore from his surgery yesterday. They have to cut through some muscle to get his central line put in. We were really excited to see that his infected port that was pulled yesterday has no redness, isn't draining, and looks and feels good today. Hunter hasn't run any fever, and his blood cultures haven't grown anything. Hopefully that means that the antibiotics were already taking care of the infection that was there. That's a real answer to prayers. I'll have to admit that yesterday it was hard for me to not panic about Hunter's infected port, and I let my fears get the best of me. I loved reading several verses from friends that helped ease my mind and remind me that the Lord is in charge here.
We are now smack dab in the "poopy days" as it was called in our orientation. Hunter noticed that his throat was getting a little scratchy. When Dr. Carrum looked in his mouth he thought that maybe some sores were beginning to develop. A side effect of the chemo is sores in your digestive tract, from beginning to end. Hunter will be given a morphine pump for the pain, and probably won't feel like eating anything other than liquids. We pray for his strength and endurance the next few days.
In our mind, when we hear his white count is at zero, we think that he is finally rid of CGD. The new cells that are still finding a home in his marrow will be healthy, normal cells. For once in his life, now he's just like every patient on our floor. We are being extra clean. It's stressful to be a germaphobe.
Hunter has been a little bit grumpy, as he's entitled to be. Just to irritate me, he's pulled out his sweatpants from sing song in college that I can't stand. Whatever it takes to make him happy these days is fine with me.
I love these guys! We have been checked into the hospital for two weeks now. Sometimes it seems like we've been apart much longer. FaceTime with them is definitely a highlight of our days.
We love our prayer warriors! We would ask that Team Hanner pray for Hunter's new cells to engraft and for him to stay infection free.
3 comments:
Praying for those healthy bone marrow stem cells to start kicking in and kicking tail for Jesus as the healing and new life begin.
While I pray for Hunter several times a day and when I wake up in the night (like men over 50 do), I want Jennifer, Jana, Mark, Howard, and Jackie to know I'm praying for them, too!
The little guys are getting a lot of love, but the big guys need it, too.
God bless you and we love you more than you can imagine.
Phil
Amen to Phil's post! We, too, are keeping all of you in our prayers. There are some new members at SH who have been in our Starting Point class this month. He is a cancer survivor and also had a bone marrow transplant - 12 years ago! He told us Sunday that he now has a new blood type. We had never thought of that. He was born with A+, but is now O+ thanks to his donor. Fascinating how that works!
Praying for you and thinking of you all each day. So glad to hear that the infection is going away. May each day get better and you all will soon be home with your precious boys again.
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