Georgie’s Journey

 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...