The light at the end of the tunnel, Day 268

Friday was Hunter's 9 month checkup, and it was a big one! 

Hunter is starting the process of weaning off his rejection medicine!!!  

Since transplant, he's taken 5 prograf pills daily.  This particular medication keeps his body from attacking his new graft, but also hampers his new immune system's response to infection.  Starting this past Saturday, he is down to 4 a day.  He is going to be repeating his labs weekly, but if all goes well he will decrease again in two weeks.  After he is completely off his rejection medicine in a couple months he will also stop his antiviral, antifungal, and antibiotics.  In a few short months, for the first time in his life, Hunter will be completely healthy.  The only pills he will require will be vitamins.  Prayers of thankfulness for God's protection of Hunter have been on repeat in my mind.  The end of the transplant process is near!  

Just a LITTLE excited in the waiting room after hearing the good news!

Without any hesitation, his doctor also put an end to our house arrest.  While we will still need to be careful and practice common sense, he felt Hunter's immune system was ready to handle the germs that Benton's return to school will undoubtably introduce into our home.  By now they realize that we have been extra careful about exposing Hunter to sickness his entire life, just not in the extremes we've had to take in the last 9 months.  It will take many years, if ever, that we are not germ freaks.  Pray especially for peace for me, as a large part of me would like to follow him around with hand sanitizer!  We told Benton the news over facetime, and his reaction was absolutely precious.  He's been missing school, friends his age, and socializing.  Bless his sweet little heart, he was very compliant with all the restrictions put on his life.  Just like his daddy, he's not a complainer.  He accepted his situation and understood that it was for Hunter's safety, but it's just never fun for your kids to suffer from things no fault of their own.  Life lesson, I guess.

Screen shot doesn't do his reaction justice.  Sweet thing was repeating "I get to go back to school" on repeat, beaming from ear to ear.  

They gave Hunter a once-over from head to toe and asked for very specific details about his pain.  I also should add that since my last blog post, Hunter started on a different medication targeting nerve pain specifically instead of the norco.  His foot pain has been markedly better, allowing for much better night sleep and a big increase in his activity level.  We are thankful for all the prayers on Hunter's behalf.  Family life has been so much better as Hunter returns more and more to his previous self.  After hearing Hunter describe exactly how and where his feet hurt, it was suggested that some his pain could be plantar fasciitis, and to try more supportive shoes.  Really Hunter's tendons hurt all over his body, so this makes sense to us.  We are hopeful that his foot pain will start to decrease in the coming months, and he won't have to mask it with pain medication.  We could not have asked for a better appointment.  

Hunter's life has been a miracle his entire life, not just the last 9 months.  We are truly blessed.

To recap our last couple weeks, I knew (and hoped) the end of house arrest was near, and tried to maximize our time together.  We visited the zoo, baked cookies, had family movie night, and spent many hours jumping on our new trampoline.  I know I'll miss these days someday, probably when I'm picking Benton up from school right in the middle of the twins nap time.  I can say that now that it's over!  

my best taste tester:)

family movie night

Picture Caleb saying "mom, really another picture?"  We are busy wrestling.

I even made my first and maybe only appearance on a duck hunt.  

I dropped off one very excited little boy at bible class on Sunday.  Since we've been cleared to go to church in November my mom or Jana have been taking the boys home during class so Hunter and I could attend our class.  You could not wipe the smile off his face.  Or mine:)  On top of that, Benton had a birthday party for a buddy that afternoon and spent the evening with his cousins.  His first day back to school is tomorrow.  Please keep our family in your prayers, especially in the midst of flu season.  

Yes, we are out in public eating for this picture.  We had a little furniture shopping to do and this distinguished gentleman accompanied me.  He alternated between being Poppa and G-Daddy with his mustache.  I am looking forward to all the new things Benton is going to learn in PreK, some more quality time with Caleb and Clayton, and having more and more normalcy return to our lives.  We ask for prayers that Hunter's body will continue to accept his graft without complication (called Graft vs. Host Disease or GVHD), that we will stay healthy, and that Hunter's pain continues to resolve itself.  We have been overwhelmed at the number of people who continue to pray for Hunter's healing, and can never thank you enough!