Today is Steven's one year birthday of new life...his bone marrow transplant. It's hard to believe it has been a year. They have quite a day planned for us.
There aren't enough words to thank everyone involved with Steven's recovery. We don't even know where to begin....well, we are starting with Nothing Bundt Cakes for our oncologist and his team and then we plan on going to 6 East with a cake.
Our day is starting with a 7:30am blood draw and then a boat load of tests...a repeat of the same ones he had before his transplant. Blood is drawn and we are off to Pulmonary for a Ventilatory Study at 8am. It is over at the hospital so it's like a cardiac stress test to get there on time...and we are late :) Steven said it went well, way better than a year ago. So far so good. Next stop, Echo cardiogram at 8:45am then a chest X-ray, the last test before clinic with our oncologist. We have a little time to relax...5 minutes! Clinic is on the other side of campus and we can't wait to see what our results are like. If his blood tests look good, Steven will begin his childhood immunizations and get a flu shot as well. Then we can be out with the regular folk. We will find out the other test results at the next visit.
In clinic, Steven's counts look good. His WBC is a little low but nothing earth shattering. His counts look good enough to proceed with immunizations! At 6-12 months post transplant, he can get Tdap (Diphtheria/Tetanus), Polio, HIB (Haemophilus influenza), Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B and Pneumococcal vaccines. They will give him 3 in each arm...ouch! COH didn't have their flu vaccine yet (why is this???). We can wait until our next visit or get it somewhere else.
One more amazing step toward our new normal. I'm so happy he is starting his immunizations. We will come back in a month for more vaccinations, a blood draw and clinic.
We went to 6 East to say hello and thank whoever we could with a Nothing Bundt Cake. I wasn't prepared for my emotions coming out of the elevator. The experience of Steven receiving a Bone Marrow Transplant, so many unknowns, did we do the right thing....all of this came flooding back. I could barely hold it together, especially seeing some of the same nurses we had a year ago. It was wonderful to go back to 6 East but I'm grateful we return on our terms.
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