Day +12

This how Dylan likes to have his oxygen--airing out his forehead :) He is not a big fan of the oxygen and the little prongs that have to go in his nose, but he is doing a lot better with it than before.




Today is DAY +12......WOW!! I cannot believe it has been 12 days since transplant!! These past 12 days have been rough....they have been draining....they have been painful....but things are starting to get better!! On Sunday, Dylan's white blood cell count (WBC) was .05--which translates to 50. Yesterday, his WBC was at .1--which is 100! This was exciting to us, but the doc said that he would not be excited until he saw 200. We were hopeful this morning that we would get great news of his counts going up....but they were still at .1 or 100. When I heard the counts this morning, my heart ached and I was disappointed. I want so badly for him to start getting better, and get on the road to recovery. The doc says that most kids start to get their numbers up around day 14, but we were all hoping to see some improvement sooner. This evening, we got an answer to prayer!! They did some blood draws this afternoon and checked his counts again, and they were at 400!! WOOOOO HOOOOO!!! Unfortunately the doc did not believe the results so he had the lab re-run the tests. The second results came back in at 200!! We are still very excited about these results and are praying for even larger numbers tomorrow. If they do not change, we are still thankful for increase. We continue to pray that God will heal Dylan, and heal him quickly. It's going to be like Christmas morning, every morning, as I wake up, anxious to hear the results of the morning blood test. Please pray that tomorrow his counts stay at .2 or get even higher....that will be such a wonderful thing to look forward to! God has been so good to us. That news today was one of the greatest things that I could hear!

Other than the exciting news, today has been a typical post transplant day. Dylan seems to be doing better with each passing day. He continues to have trouble breathing because of the fluids, and has been on oxygen most of the day. He is finally realizing that he has to keep the oxygen on and has stopped yanking it off every five seconds. Now he only pulls it off every hour or so...he is pretty sneaky. His throat is healing well and the doc feels that he will probably be eating again next week! AWESOME!! It's so strange not feeding him all day...very strange. He is still having a lot of pain INSIDE his body. He is very sensitive to touch because of all of the fluids he is retaining, so I have to be very careful when I am holding him. He also screams in agony every time he has to poop. It's heartbreaking. This pain is coming from the sores that are INSIDE his GI tract. These will go away within the next couple of weeks as his body gets stronger, but it is quite painful for him right now. Please pray that we can get through the next week or two with as little pain as possible.

God gave me a HUGE blessing today--Dylan was laughing and smiling in his sleep...it almost made me cry!! He is infamous for doing this, but has not done it for a LONG time!! I am so thankful for the little things....and smiles are my favorite!! Although this is a very trying time for our family, it is teaching us a lot. God has taught us how to lean on Him for EVERYTHING, and I cannot imagine going through one day of this without Him. I feel thankful for so many little things now. I appreciate the little things now, and I notice them. I look forward to the simple things. Life is not all about me....it is about HIM!

Thank you everyone for all of your prayers!! I hope to have wonderful news for you tomorrow!!

We Love you!

Michelle, Erik & Baby Dylan