Well we are officially one week down in the hospital and tomorrow is bone marrow transplant day!!

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated so let me catch you up! We returned to the hospital last Wednesday the 5th, Blakely was so excited to see her new Frozen themed room that was decorated for her. That night as I’m at the sink getting her mouth care ready she decided it was a good idea to stand on the rolling laundry cart and her and the cart fall straight back smacking her head and hurting her thumb. So here I am first day in already STRESSED of a broken thumb and concussion or brain bleed. All ended up being fine but not exactly as I wanted to start transplant admission. Thanks Blakely for the scare 🤪

The next 6 days she received harsh chemotherapy to empty out the bone marrow and prepare for the new cells. She had a few episodes of nausea and vomiting as well as a few naps which isn’t usual for her. But overall she’s doing well and feeling well enough to play dolls  with me for the majority of the day, which I’m so grateful for.

The transition back has been difficult on the both of us. She isn’t very open to the nurses/doctors and doesn’t want to cooperate. Which I get it’s been a long 6 months of this so far! But honestly it’s just exhausting trying to get her to comply or think of creative ways to get her to do simple tasks like taking a temperature. I think we are both just tired. Tired of being cooped up in a hospital room, not being able to be outside, living the same exact routine every day, not being able to walk the halls or pet the dogs, not being able to do what we what when we want, and tired of having our family split into two.

We are exhausted and this admission just feels hard and extra heavy with all the unknowns with side effects/complications that can happen.

But wait there is more…

I woke up this morning excited because it’s a rest day (no chemo) in preparation for cell day (transplant day) tomorrow. Yay right? Just when we think all is dandy and ready to go for tomorrow… our doctor lets us know there had been an issue when processing Austen’s bone marrow cells.

During the processing of the cells where they remove some of the blood the bag had leaked/cracked. Meaning the cells had been exposed to the air. This can increase the chances of infection if they happened to be exposed to something. Though they feel it’s extremely unlikely they still had to let us know it happened. The doctors feel strongly we should proceed with these cells as there is no time for a recollection or to find a new donor. And unfortunately they said this happens more often than you’d think.

The collection is now less than we expected to have, but over the threshold needed, so we should be okay. So please please pray these cells were not contaminated in any way and that we have just the amount Blakely’s body needs.

Oh and pray no other complications arise with the bags, processing, transporting, or defrosting of the cells 🧡 please. We NEED these cells and we NEED them to work 🧡

The next few days will be nerve wracking as we have no idea how her body will respond and what her side effect will look like. We are praying for everything to go as well as possible and for her Daddy’s cells to engraft around days +14 to +21 and tomorrow starts day 0. She’s got this. She has all the fight and the sass to finish this fight!

Thank you all for being here throughout our journey. We have been blessed with so much support and kindness from you all. I don’t think we will ever have the words to say for how grateful we are 🧡 please keep praying and sending good vibes - we need you now more than ever.