Hello again! I am so happy to report that we have turned some type of corner and Mason is feeling so much better! That's the most important update of the day. We have been fever free since last Thursday and he has been walking laps around the floor to improve his endurance. He was able to walk all the way to the classroom on the floor last Thursday and Friday, which was a HUGE improvement!

Since my last post, Mason had an MRI of the brain, which showed that the infection had spread into the brain itself. The infectious disease doctors have decided that Mason will continue on an antibiotic for an additional 2.5 weeks from the day those results came in, which was last Thursday.

HOWEVER- the current plan is to switch to an oral antibiotic starting tomorrow, Monday, 9/9. His other medications have slowly been swapped out to oral medications, now that his nausea is better controlled and he is able to manage pills. Mason is scheduled for a CT scan and lumbar puncture on Tuesday, 9/10, to check to see how the rest of his organs are doing and to clear him TO GO HOME! Fingers crossed we can check out of here on Wednesday of this week.

We are waiting on further details regarding how this course of antibiotics will affect the schedule for bone marrow transplant. We had full day appointments scheduled for the next three days, which we can no longer be at while we are still in-patient. There may also be a specific amount of time that Mason needs to be off of his antibiotics before we can move into the transplant prep process of chemo and radiation. So once again we are embracing the one-day-at-a-time mantra on this journey and will provide updates as soon as we can.

In the meantime- I need to give a HUGE shout-out to the 8th graders at Rising Starr Middle School. Last Thursday, Mason's football team had their first game. We've heard from his teammates that they are all wearing a 15 for Mason on their helmets. (I'm really hoping we can see them in person soon!) Following my last post, Mason has been overwhelmed by the Smilegrams from his classmates. He called me on Friday (one of my days at home) to tell me that he couldn't even count how many he had gotten. When I arrived today, the volunteer came in with a large envelope filled with another large batch. Mason reads every word and his smile just gets bigger and bigger as he pages through them. Thank you all for this level of encouragement- it definitely helps give him a reason to get out of the bed and keep walking and building his endurance so that he can get home!

As a side note- we did also hit another 30 full days here in the hospital, so we did have to move to a new room over the weekend.

Smilegrams can now be delivered to Room 564.

Thank you friends!