Phew 😮‍💨 today was busy. We have officially started Blakely’s new protocol for her 2nd bone marrow transplant happening on August 6th, now with mom as the new donor. 

Today Blakely had an EKG, Echo, plasmapheresis, and x-rays. 

Plasmapheresis (Plasma Exchange) is a process we are using to help eliminate the antibodies she has developed since the first transplant against both mom and dad. This process takes about 2 hours because the set up is so long!! Also why she had the second chest central line inserted yesterday. 

Her new protocol is focusing on suppressing her immune system so much that her body will not reject the new cells. Along with the plasmapheresis, she has multiple other medications, transfusions, chemo, and full body radiation that will be used to make sure these new cells will stick and bring us a successful second transplant! The plan is to use mom’s cells, but for any reason she doesn’t pass all the clearance items, we can use dad’s cells again and our protocol will still work great. 

We have officially been in the hospital for 51 days since being admitted for the first transplant. But today we start our new countdown, day -12…. For Blakely’s big day August 6th receiving mom’s stem cells. 

The good news today is that Blakely’s tummy x-ray came back free of pneumotosis 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 our girl can drink and eat again!! She was NPO for 18 days! 

These next weeks will be crucial for Blakely to stay healthy and infection free until her new cells grow and she has white blood cells! She has already endured so much, but has a lot more to come. Please continue to pray for her health and for the nurses and doctors taking care of her! 

Not sure how great I’ll be at updates, I’m kind of exhausted at this point lol. But I’ll do my best!! Please just keep those prayers and good vibes coming, we can feel your love and support! Blakely is so strong and has so much fight but she needs us!