Transplant - Chemo Day 6

We received the last round of chemo this morning -- Hooray! This one (Melphelen) is a doozy for causing mouth sores. The doctor said eating something cold like ice chips or popsicles while receiving chemo cuts down on mouth sores....suppresses the cells in the mouth or something like that. So after breakfast, it was orange sherbet and popsicles. No complaining from Jack.

It's important to keep on top of oral care, he brushes twice a day and swishes with a fancy mouthwash four times a day. 
His blood counts are dropping, so no leaving the seventh floor. Doctor thinks this weekend is when his counts will hit rock bottom.

This afternoon we had a chest X-ray to make sure no signs of pneumonia. The tech let him look at his lungs, ribs and heart -- Jack thought it was pretty cool. 

Jack has a teacher that comes in for an hour each day. (No school on Fridays.) At first he was moaning and groaning, didn't want to do school, but now he really likes it. Today, he wanted to start doing school work before the teacher came. (Write that one down...) 

Both Children's and UNMC (and other hospitals I'm sure) have Child Life Specialists. These guys work with kids and have all sorts of games, toys, activities, movies and so much more.  

These guys are awesome! Lisa from Child life came in today-- her and Jack made some pretty cool volcanoes. She also left lots of paint, paper, glue and other crafts for us. Doing crafts with mom --nahh... but someone else is always a big hit. A music therapist is coming in tomorrow. Jack asked that she brings as many drums as she has. I'm sure our neighbors on each side of us are going to love us tomorrow afternoon. 

Happy Fat Tuesday! Today Child Life had all sorts of activities and snacks for the kids on the third floor. Since Jack can't leave the floor, they had a goodie bag for him and a cupcake with the good luck baby on top. Me too -- so this room is booming with good luck... which is just in time for ---- drum roll.... 

Transplant! Also know as Day 0

It's going to be an exciting day tomorrow. 1:00 PM CST. A big mile marker in his treatment. His cells will be thawed out and given back to him through his central line. Lots of close monitoring, some extra people in the room during transplant and fingers crossed it's somewhat of a boring (because boring and uneventful is good) afternoon. Day 0 and Day 100 are pretty big mild stones in cell transplant. Saying a little prayer that today, tomorrow and down the road that all goes well, as they all anticipate it will. 

Lots of things to be thankful today: 

- Autologous stem cell transplant - they were able to collect and use Jack's own blood stem cells. He only needs one bag and they were able to collect four bags. The extra bags will stay frozen throughout Jack's life. 

- Jack is still feeling pretty good. He's getting tired a bit more and eating a tad less, but other than that, he's still himself. Still argues, gives the nurses a good laugh, (or hard time) tests my patience and is bossy as hell. To give him credit, he does following up his demands with a please and thank you. :) He is super sweet too! Most definitely. 

- Really love the staff here. 

- A foam pad for my make shift bed/couch. It was getting a wee bit uncomfortable, so I made a run to Target. I feel as if now I'm sleeping on a cloud. I can't wait to see how my bed at home feels! 

- Chase and Tibor -- Thank you for holding down the fort while we're away. We miss you guys lots. You're cooking, right?! Cereal and Ramin Noodles are not a meal. Cereal means there is milk in the fridge - FYI.  xo mom.