Georgie’s Journey

Well this week is technically Thanksgiving break but it really wouldn’t be a holiday without the Mitchell family getting sick. Kate, George and Mitch all have colds. I’m certain Bowers will be going down at any point too. Thankfully this is not a bigger virus then it is. Just a typical hard hitting cold that accompanies runny noses and coughs. Monday George’s labs were a little low so with the long weekend coming up they wanted to make sure he was all taken care of.  He had to get some Neupagen yesterday to raise his ANC and will keep taking that until his counts come back up. His hemoglobin has dropped again so he is currently in the middle of a blood transfusion. His platelets did go up to 82 so that is a praise! He will leave Nemours after the transfusion today and head to the hospital for an antibiotic IV drip. He was not suppose to still be getting this one but since his counts were low they decided to go ahead with another round. Tomorrow we will come back in for labs and hop...

Today was the day. Kate’s big thanksgiving singing performance at her school. She was so excited about it. I worked it out to take George in first thing this morning for labs and then go to her program and then back to the hospital for his chemo. Well it was all falling into place when his tubing from his port came unclipped and blood started pouring out of it. After soaking through his clothes we clipped it back up and headed straight back to the hospital for them to fix the problem. But as they say in show business, “the show must go on”. I was not able to go to Kate’s program. Daddy and MomMom pulled through in a pinch and were able to go support her and send me video. Kate nailed it and was happy to have the surprise guests. George’s hemoglobin held from yesterday so no blood transfusion for today but we are here for his 8 hour chemo IV drip. Since his antibody levels were raised the dr decided to go ahead and continue this treatment. Although the day did not go as planned it is st...

This morning at George’s appointment he got a flu shot. He was so good. Just one little yelp and that’s it. Needles to the leg are no thing for this guy. His hemoglobin has dropped but not enough to have to have a blood transfusion today. We will go back tomorrow morning to check again. That test will also determine whether or not he needs to get his chemo treatment that is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. I am really praying that he will not. I am planning on it happening though and know that even if he gets it, it is for his benefit to get the anemia under control. We were also told that he is 100% Kate in the two out of three categories of his complete marrow. His third marker is coming up too. It is at 88% now which is up from a few weeks ago. Soon he will be all Kate!!!!  This is a huge praise. Thank you Lord for bringing us that much closer to the end goal. It’s so crazy how this all works. It is working though. That’s all I care about. It is not guaranteed yet at this point...

This past weekend was the coldest it has been since last winter. We welcomed it with open arms. Mitch had some good friends from high school come in town for a visit so me and the kids camped out at my parents house while they are out of town. We stayed in pajamas almost the entire weekend and watched a whole season of Little House on the Prairie. It was a childhood favorite of mine so I was so excited to see that all 9 seasons are offered on Amazon Prime. It’s the little things these days 😂  Monday morning we were back at the dr as usual. His counts came back ok. Not great. Not bad. We will go back in Thursday for another blood transfusion and then we will check into the day hospital Friday for another round of IV chemo. Fun things from the week have included Thanksgiving themed donuts from Krispy Kreme, Christmas card photo shoot, Bowers’ Thanksgiving lunch at school and Kate’s thanksgiving program at school. Thursday night Mitch will be out of town so I have something special a...

Yesterday was George’s 100th day of his new life. It was 100 days since he received Kate’s marrow. This was the day that the drs always would talk about as being a milestone in the transplant. Why? It is suppose to be a marker to show whether or not the transplant “took” or was successful. Successful in the sense that it was working the way it is suppose to. According to his drs, George’s transplant was a success. Praise the Lord!!! Before all of this began we heard all about the 100 days. We were told to expect to be in the hospital for 100 days. We were so fortunate to only have to stay for 30 days and then only an additional 10 days since. Even if we do come to Nemours three times a week we are still “outpatient” which is really huge in a transplant situation. 100 days was also, in my head, the day that we would celebrate with George being healed. It’s funny how you set these things up in your head before knowing what it is really like. So yesterday came and went without really any ...

After 10 days in the hospital, we are home!!!! George is so happy to be here. He really loves his house and his sisters. We went on a good walk this morning for some fresh air and to feel what being outside felt like again. Still hot 😂.  But it did feel great to soak up the elements. We go back to Nemours tomorrow for the day for another platelet and blood transfusion. His counts had dropped some as we were leaving but they let us come home regardless to give us a little break. We will be there Thursday and Friday as well but hopefully just for his chemo and not for more transfusions. I thought for sure we would both sleep so great last night since we were finally back on our own beds. Well, maybe tonight will be the night. I think George was so excited to be here that he was up most of the night. Either that or we missed all of the middle of the night nurse checks and beeping alarms. Whatever it was will hopefully pass and we will be snoring all night long tonight. We are so gra...

George was able to de access (take the needle out) of his port last night to give him a little break from it. He had to get another platelet transfusion yesterday because his counts had dropped a little but the dr said he was certain George would be able to go all of Sunday without anymore transfusions so no needle for today. We took advantage of that by taking a long hot bubble bath. He isn’t able to bathe other then with special hospital wipes when his port is accessed, which is always. After about an hour in the mommy churned jacuzzi he was all clean and refreshed. It’s amazing what a little spa time can do for the soul. He will get his needle placed back in this afternoon and will have another chemo treatment tomorrow. Then,  if all his counts are holding, we will be checking out of the “Resort by Wolsfon at Weaver 4”. Praise the Lord that he seems to be moving in the right direction now.