Day +13

Hello all! Well, I do not have any exciting news today :( This morning, Dylan's WBC was still at .1 like yesterday and went up to .2 this afternoon. It is normal for this to happen. The doctors do not get excited until they get the same numbers two times in a row. Sooooooo....let's just keep praying that tomorrow it will be at .2 or higher. There is no pre-set time when counts go up. Every person is different. We will just keep praying and praying, knowing that God is in control of every single little detail, down to the number of cells that grow each day-and HE is orchestrating it!! So for now, we trust that God is working in his little body. At day +60, they start to do engraftment tests to see if the transplant has worked. The tests will show how much of his cells are his, and how many are the donor's. We want them to be 100% donor and 0% Dylan. Until then, we wait for his counts to come up. We need prayer that he does not get GVHD (graft vs host disease), and that he can avoid all of the other complications that can come with transplant.

Today has been a good day so far. I was blessed by getting 10 hours of sleep last night!! OH WOW!! Thank you Karyna!! I was a new woman this morning and even dried my hair and put on make-up!! Woo hoo!! Karyna is awesome and storing up a lot of treasures in heaven!!
Dylan seems to be feeling better and has been smiling a little bit more. He received more platelets yesterday and is getting some more tonight. It is perfectly normal to get this many platelets after transfusion and he will continue to get the many transfusions until he starts to make his own platelets. Here's a fun fact for you--Your body makes new platelets for itself every 3 days. Did you know that? No wonder D has to get so many transfusions-he is getting someone's half-used platelets, and if his body does not like them, then it disposes of them and asks for more. I learn something new every day.

We will probably be staying in the hospital for another 2-4 weeks. Dylan will be healthy enough to get released from the hospital when his counts are stable and increasing....OH how I cannot wait for that day!! After we are out of the hospital, we will have to come in daily for clinic visits. The first two weeks of visits can last anywhere between 3-6 hours, depending upon how many medicines he needs and if he needs transfusions. Then from there, also depending on his status, his visits will get shorter and less frequent. We are hoping to be able to go home to Phoenix before Thanksgiving!! We will probably have to see Dr. Graham once a week for almost a year! So that means driving to Tucson once a week, every week, until next year. We have a LONG road ahead of us!! But as long as we have that road to travel, we will be happy :) That is a brief synopsis of the next few months and what may be happening...of course, all of this is subject to change. I am just excited to get out of the hospital!! Even though we will still stay in Tucson and I have to go back to the hospital everyday, we won't be living at the hospital, and life will be a little more normal.

Thank you to each and every one of you who gets excited everyday to see what God is doing in little D's life. It's amazing to see how God has used Dylan to touch the lives of others...and we love to hear the stories, so thank you for sharing them with us. We appreciate all of the love, prayers, and support that we receive everyday....you guys are amazing!! We love you!!

Not walking this road alone,
Michelle, Erik, and Baby Dylan