Georgie’s Journey

 May the Lord Bless you and keep you. May his grace shine down upon you. 

 Yesterday George checked into the hospital and had his port removed. Let me say that again. George had his port removed. The lifeline that has assisted George through this whole transplant. His nurse and I were laughing yesterday saying that this might have been the hardest working port of all time. That port needs an award. MVP (most valuable port). Ports can go bad. Ports can get dislodged. Ports can become infected. George’s port never wavered. Never failed. Like our God. Never wavering. Never failing. It was a long day at the hospital. Especially long since George was unable to eat or drink anything. The child life specialist came through again with lots of distractions in the form of legos and games and art projects. While we will not miss spending long days at the hospital we will certainly miss our child life specialists. I think we need to hire one to move in with us. The timing of George having his port removed thanksgiving week sums up how we feel about this whole journe...

 The week leading up to Halloween was very eventful in the Mitchell house. We got a call from Kate’s school that she was possibly exposed to Covid and so she needed to stay home from school all week. That same day she ended up having a fever. When Bowers came home from school that afternoon, she too had a fever. After I had picked Kate up from school we went straight to have Covid tests but the results would not be back for 48 hours. I thought we may actually have it since both girls had fevers. After I put George to sleep I noticed he was having a hard time breathing. He was so congested that it was waking him up each time he tried to take a breath. It was a very strange and unfamiliar sound that he was making as he tried to breath. We took his temperature and sure enough he had a 101 temp. I called the on call hematologist and they said take him in to the ER. When we woke him he was complaining that his stomach hurt. I assumed this was actually his chest hurting and him just desc...

 Last month at George’s check up his labs came back with rock star counts. His hemoglobin was up to 11.8. His platelets were in the upper 200’s. His ANC was sky high. This was all so encouraging considering he had begun the taper of his daily oral chemo. The reason that he was still on this was to make sure the anemia didn’t get out of control. Well guess what? We went back in for labs today and his counts stayed high. George will no longer have to take his daily chemo anymore. You heard me right. He is through with his chemo. Oh how I have longed for this day. Oh how I have prayed for this to happen. This is the best news. This means that his anemia is finally under control. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. What a blessing. I am not saying that I didn’t trust that this day would come but I am going to admit to having some doubts that this day would ever be here. I had accepted that this may just be a part of his life now. One of the many side effects that having a bone marrow transpla...

 We went in for George’s MRI and Bone Marrow aspiration a few weeks ago. All went pretty well until he came out of anesthesia. He was so upset that they had to call me back to the recovery area to help. I couldn’t calm him down either so what do you do then? Well you put him back under. Yep, the anesthesiologist came in the room after hearing the screams from down the hall and juiced him back up. When he woke up from the second round he was still upset, but not in an all out frenzy. He has always had a rough time waking up from anesthesia but now that he is a head strong 3 year old he is really fun to deal with post procedure. We got the results back last week from those tests and his bone marrow looked wonderful and was as perfect as a perfectly healthy child’s would look. Wow is this amazing news. It is as if he was born disease free. Let that sink in for a minute. God, you are good. His results from his MRI came back with some other wonderful news. NO IRON BUILDUP!! His body got...

 August 6th marks one year since George’s transplant. His new blood was administered to him the morning of August 6th, 2019 at 10:30 in the morning. It was a day we had been planning and anticipating for almost 2 years. I remember when the nurses walked into the room with the bag full of Kate’s bone marrow there being  a quiet peace. I was so nervous leading up to this moment. They told me that once George got his new marrow he could have seizures, violent shaking, and a spiked fever. Leading up to the moment they walked in the room I was extremely anxious thinking about this. The fear left the room like a passing breeze. One of the nurses asked if I wanted to pray over the marrow before they started. My answer was no. I had been praying for this moment for the past two years. Every day. Multiple times a day. The moment was here. I knew God had this covered. We held George, played worship music and prayed for the few hours it took to administer it. There was not one seizure. T...

I always wanted twins. Twins run in my moms family so I somewhat imagined it might actually happen. What I did not imagine was it happening at the ripe old age of 42.  They may not have shared a womb or even been born in the same year but Kate and George are officially twins. 100% engraftment! George’s transplant was a complete success. They are identical twins in every way internally. They share the exact same DNA. Our second child literally saved our third child’s life and now they will forever have a bond that only identical twins share. People may not have chosen this path to get twins and frankly I wouldn’t have either but I would not change even a second of any of it. Because of the blessing of George’s disease we have become a closer family. We have become closer with both old and new friends. We have met so many amazing people. We have experienced so many wonderful things. But most importantly we have grown closer to God. I did not know that I needed all of this in my life,...

The big email with news about his health did not end up coming after all. Just when I get all excited to share hopefully wonderful news. Consider it a movie trailer. We can all sit on the edge of our seats waiting with anticipation for the actual release. George’s labs did come back from Thursday’s appointment and they were great. Hemoglobin still holding strong at 10.6. Platelets at an acceptable 267 and his ANC at an impressive high. It was even flagged as “high” on the results page. This was particularly great news because I decided to take him off of his weekly Neupegen shots a few weeks ago to see if his body could bump them up on his own. Well they sure did. They are showing off. I know I have said this before but it always is so exciting to me when his Neutrophil count is high since this was why we started this process in the first place. A body that did not produce any on its own is now registering “high” on the standards chart. Without medication. It really blows my mind. I ha...

I am sorry I haven’t updated over the past few weeks. George hasn’t had anything to update you on other then enjoying his summer so far. His counts two weeks ago were great. We went back to the dr today for more labs and will find out the results tomorrow. I will hopefully have some exciting news to share tomorrow so stay tuned. George seems to be thriving. He loves life to the fullest. More news to come on everything in his life. I promise. Thank you for continued prayers. I look forward to sharing when I get a call from the dr tomorrow. Until then, here are some pictures of summertime Georgie.

Today we went to the Day Hospital at Wolfson for one of George’s monthly treatments. George did not even put up a fight when I dropped the girls off at my moms house before. Was this a sign as to how the day would go? We walked up to the hospital and they had installed some really cool infrared cameras to check to see if anyone was sick. I felt like we were in a Mission Impossible movie. Maybe I’m easily impressed but I thought it was so cool. They have closed the hospital gift shop and it was empty. I hope they are able to reopen after this all settles down but for today I was excited that there wasn’t an option to buy George’s M&Ms which meant no tantrum. Was this the second sign of good things to come? We got started immediately on the IV with hardly a fuss when he was being accessed. He had several snacks. He watched an Elmo movie. We played a matching game. We played with play doh. Before we knew it, the beeping of the IV pump was indicating to us that his infusion was complet...

Each week our sweet sweet neighbor bakes homemade cookies for me to take into the nurses and drs at Nemours. She never misses a week. At this point I don’t think I would be allowed to enter the doors at Nemours if I didn’t have the cookies. They love that I bring them and they appreciate it so much. They even have a guessing game as to which kind I will bring each week. It is such an amazing gesture and labor of love that my neighbor does on behalf of George. I get all the credit even though they are fully aware that she makes them and not me. I look like the hero when all I am is the delivery girl. Well, we also have the duty of taste testing them before we give them to the staff. You know, making sure they aren’t poisoned. Someone has to do it and George and I are just the right candidates for the job. I have to cut him off at 3 so there will be some left for everyone else. I will not confirm the number that I cut myself off with. We love them just as much as the nurses and drs do. I...

Yesterday we woke up extra early to get the girls started on homeschool and then rush into Wolfson Day Hospital for George’s treatment. It was all going smoothly until we passed by the hospital gift shop where George use to be able to pick out a pack of M&Ms after each treatment as a little treat. Well guess what is closed because of CoViD19? Yep, the hospital gift shop. Nothing slips by George. I tried pointing out the cool murals on the opposite side of the room as we walked down what seemed to be worlds longest hall with glass windows showcasing all the treats and goodies that the gift shop had to offer. Silly me. George was onto my diversion tactics from the jump. I can easily just explain to him that the shop is closed so we couldn’t get the M&Ms right? That would be a big fat NO! So this is where the first tantrum began. Yes I said first. We woke up any tired employees drifting off. We woke up any babies trying to sleep in their strollers. We put whiplash into the necks o...

Sorry for the long hiatus on posting. With all this extra time on our hands we seem to have no extra time on our hands. My kids sure know how to keep me occupied. Like I mentioned before, we are old pros at the quarantine bit but the attached at the hip 24/7 routine is certainly consuming my every second.. I can’t complain about that because I know it’s a blessing buuuttttt, it leaves almost no time for me to get anything for myself done. So here I am posting an update on George a few weeks late. Thanks for hanging in there with me. I’ll be better I promise. The day hospital treatment the week before last went good. No problems and no sickness after. His labs last week were about the same as the weeks before but his hemoglobin had dropped a little bit more. The drs did not seem concerned so I will follow their lead and trust that everything is ok. Update on his face. You guys!!!!! It’s amazing to say the least. His face is not red at all. It is not crusty. It is not dry. There are no s...

Last weeks labs showed that George’s counts had dropped some. Not a ton but they dropped none the less. Today’s labs showed another drop. His hemoglobin is still at 10.3 which is good but it had risen to 11.2 a few weeks ago so it is a slight drop for sure. His platelets, although still descent, dropped to the mid 200’s. His ANC dropped too so he is back on Neupegen once a week to try and get his levels to stay high through the pandemic. For the past few months I’m sure you have noticed a change in George’s appearance. His face is always bright red and his freckles have really turned more into age spots. His skin is extremely dry and sensitive. He has had blisters come up on his face, arms and feet. Even though we slather him in sunscreen, he still gets really effected by the sun. He also has trouble with his eyes when it is bright outside. Well I knew that this was all side effects from his medicine but it was indeed confirmed today. He was immediately pulled off of that one medicine ...

I took George into Nemours on Tuesday and his labs came back great. His hemoglobin was up to 11.2. That is amazing. Simply amazing. What a huge praise!! Other than after he had a blood transfusion, his hemoglobin has never been that high on its own. His dr was so pleased. I still can not believe it. The treatments to stop the anemia worked. I think that everyone was beginning to think that George was some sort of medical mystery. But God showed them. He showed up big and sure enough healed our boy. I just pray that every day George gets stronger and healthier. Especially with all that is going on with the CoViD 19 virus. My prayers of complete protection over George and our family is something I pray all day about. I am so very thankful that he is getting stronger right now while this virus looms over us all. I think back to last year at this exact time. I was getting everything ready for George’s 2nd birthday party. I wanted to have a really special party for him since honestly, and I...