October 8, 2014

Lots has happened since my last post.  After the third round of chemo Meghan was home for a few days and then ended up back in the hospital for several days/nights.  She had another allergic reaction to a platelet transfusion and then developed a fever.  So she was admitted to the hospital until her ANC (the part of your blood that fights infection) went back up to over 200. For Meghan her's would drop to 0, which is expected.  During her stay she was treated with antibiotics until it rose.

An update to what I posted last time, the doctors did another PET/CT scan after the 3rd round of chemo and have decided to move on to the bone marrow transplant.  The scan was done this past Friday and showed some more improvement, though there is still a small area that is cancer active.  

This week consists of lots and lots of doctors appointments for Meghan and Tim to prepare for the transplant.  The plan is that Meghan will be admitted to the hospital on October 15th and will undergo very intense chemo treatment for several days to hopefully kill some more of the tumor and to make room for her brother's bone marrow.  The transplant is scheduled for October 21st, Meghan's "New Birthday" as they call it.

Meghan will spend about a month in the hospital and then upon her release will need to live in the city near the hospital for about 2 1/2 months. So we are currently trying to find a place to live during that time.  There are some organizations with housing and we hope to land in one of them (fingers crossed).  If not then we will have to look elsewhere. 

Tim's part in all this will be that on the 21st they will harvest his bone marrow and transplant it into Meghan the same day.  If all goes well he will go home the same day and then back to the hospital for a bandage change the next day.  This will be a very painful procedure for him and will take several days to feel better.  Then several weeks to regain all his strength due to the amount of bone marrow they will be taking.  His body will have to work to replace what is taken.

Tim's hopes that by giving Meghan his bone marrow Meghan will become more athletic :)

Terry and I will be splitting our time at the hospital and in the housing during this time.  Thankfully our places of work allows us to work remotely.  Once Meghan is out of the hospital we can at least spend the weekends together as a family with Tim joining us.  

Meghan will be on immune supressant medication for about 6 months until Tim's bone marrow has an opportunity to grow and replace all of Meghan's.  Because of this Meghan will need to be very careful with her diet and surroundings to help ensure she does not get sick.  She cannot be around fresh flowers or plants, all her food has to be cooked very throughly, fruit cannot have any blemishes and washed with soap, etc. etc. etc. 

We need lots of prayers of strength for our family to get us through this.  Prayers that this will work as this is Meghan's only option at this point.  Prayers for Tim for quick healing. 

Have a blessed day.

Michele