Headed in the right direction-Pray for Platelets!

Happy Friday y'all!  Hunter has busted out of the hospital.  He has had a very quiet and uneventful week.  And that's a good thing when you're admitted:)  His platelet count on Monday was 2.  Not good.  He had an IVIG treatment every day, and had three platelet transfusions.  Every day his labs improved.  Today's count was 18, and they felt comfortable with him staying in the Houston area for the weekend.  He will go back to clinic on Monday.  We are going to step out and ask for prayers that his platelet level in back in the normal range at clinic so we can come home and have this little hiccup behind us.

It was good to see some of our favorite nurses.  Though we'd much rather say hi from clinic checkups:)  They took excellent care of Hunter and were all loving his wild hair since he was bald last time they saw him.

Platelets are such a strange yellow color!

 While Hunter's week was slow, the boys had a ball.  Mark, Jana, and I took turns switching out days and nights at the hospital.  We got up and brought Hunter breakfast, then took in some of the sights of Houston.  The twins have been on virtual lockdown of places where there are lots of kids since last August.  When our doctor admitted Hunter, he encouraged us to let the kids sightsee.  So we did.  They visited the Museum of Natural History, Houston Zoo twice, and the Houston Aquarium.  In the evenings they swam in the hotel pool.  Keeping busy kept their minds off the fact that Hunter was again in the hospital.  It was comforting in stressful times to be with the boys.

Right up Benton's alley

3D Gallapagos Island video

Somehow, they managed to sweet talk Nana at the gift shop

The aquarium was right in the middle of downtown.  It had carnival type rides outside, lots of fish, a stingray petting area, and a white tiger.  

Ferris wheel up above traffic

Why not have a tiger in the aquarium?

Clayton was obviously not interested in posing

My favorite was the stingray feeding.  The boys had no issues whatsoever with letting a stingray suck a fish out of their hands.  I loved their texture!

 And not surprisingly for our sheltered twins, our week in Houston came to an early end.  Caleb woke up coughing Thursday morning.  His asthma can get nasty fairly quickly, so we have to be pretty careful with him.  Hunter was finished with his IVIG treatment and we found out he couldn't go home, so Mark and I took the boys on to Abilene.  We didn't want to run the risk of giving something contagious to Hunter in case he had a little virus as well.  

Poor guy!

saying goodbye for a few days:(

We are missing Hunter, but know Nana will take good care of him.  Our last year has been all sorts of crazy, and this week was no exception.  As the kids and I jump back into our routine of school, gymnastics, baseball, and church we are grateful for the support system all around us.  The phone calls, text messages, facebook posts, and visitors all helped us regain our footing after a very disappointing turn of events last week.  Mark and Jana had won a GM trip to Cabo and skipped to stay with Hunter in the hospital and help with our kids.  We know and feel the many prayers offered on our family's behalf, and are so thankful.  Though I don't know the purpose of all these setbacks, I do know that God has a perfect plan for our family.  We pray the day that transplant related bumps in the road are over, that Hunter's platelets return to normal, and that Hunter can stay free from infection while on the dreaded steroids.  Love Team Hanner! (don't tell the boys they're really wearing Astro gear:)