June 22nd, day +57

We have had a pretty quiet couple days.  Right now, Hunter's in the hospital "for observation."  He doesn't have a whole lot of treatments going on, but with limited movement from his groin line we can't really take care of him very well at the RV.

Hunter's hemoglobin has been at 7.9 yesterday and 7.4 today.  That's holding pretty well considering he still has a little blood in his stool.  He has got platelets and clotting agents and those have both slowed down the amount of bleeding but not stopped it completely.  A GI doctor came by for a consult and we all agreed that his platelets are low and should allow him a few days to see if the bleeding will decrease on its own before we take any actions such as a colonoscopy.

Yesterday, he had an ultrasound on his swollen right arm.  No surprise, it showed both the main veins in his shoulder were clotted off.  We think this was probably from his central line on the right side that was pulled about a month ago.  His arm vein that had the IV was also clotted off, so the fluid has no way to get out of his arm.  A hematologist looked at the situation and recommended that we switch off of the blood thinner Coumadin.  Since he's developed several clots while on a blood thinner, it's apparent that that's not working too well.  He started on a drip of heparin which should help his body break down the clots.   His foot is doing a little swelling right now, so we are praying hard that his line can last through his next treatment of Rituxan on Monday.  After Monday, I think he will be reevaluated to see where we are.  

One of his few upright moments-love him!

3 little monkeys on a lazy Saturday morning

We've watched several movies and have started on a TV season, but the days pass by pretty slow for Hunter.  His stomach has felt pretty nauseous this afternoon.  We are just ready to him to feel better.  He just keeps telling himself he's made it through another day.  We would love for you to pray for his red cell destruction to continue to decrease, for his colon to heal and quit bleeding, and for the clots to resolve.  Hunter has come so far.  It just seems like he has so much further to go.  Hunter has walked along this path with courage and given glory to God for every bit of his healing.  Tonight we ask a special prayer that his path is made easy and that we can be over the final hurdles soon.  If I sound tired in this post, it's because we are weary.  We have a healthy, 100% donor graft.  What a blessing.  We are 57 days post transplant.  His hemolytic anemia is well on his way to being under control.  There are 3 little boys that we love with all our heart waiting for us at home.  But, right now the issues he's struggling with are draining.  It's so hard to have patience to wait on God's time!