White Blood Cells Are AMAZING!

Jackson's counts started to come up on Thursday and it seemed like immediately he started to feel better. By Friday he was no longer on any type of pain meds and his ANC was up from 200 to 500 and it was declared that he was officially Engrafted.

Saturday he woke up with an ANC of 800 and once he got out of bed, he didn't sit down all day. I love seeing him feel better. Watching him play is so nice I love that he feels better

Today his ANC is 1200 and we are scheduled to go home in the morning. He is SO ready to go home, and he misses Hailey so bad. However before we can go, he will probably need a platelet transfusion.

Going home Jackson will have to be on TPN (food through his central line) because he still doesn't eat anything. He will have to be "hooked up" from 8PM to 8AM which really isn't that bad because he will be asleep the entire time. He can still eat if he chooses to, but I don't expect he will eat much of anything and with him being on TPN we wont worry too much about him if he chooses not to eat.

Food. That is a new thing we get to worry about at home. Jackson is on a low microbial diet, so there are lots of food restrictions and things we have to do differently. For instance: Jackson can not eat any fast food, fountain beverages, soft serve ice-cream, berries, deli meat from the deli, food that has been out for more than an hour, etc. I have to be very contentious of things when I cook so that I don't spread germs or possible food borne illnesses. The Bone Marrow Team gave me a list about 6 pages long of things that Jackson can and cannot eat, it is very detailed and the restrictions will last until about April.

The food thing is a bit crazy, for example; Jackson must have his own jar of peanut butter and all of his own condiments. If I make him a peanut butter sandwich and if I didn't get enough peanut butter the first time, must get a new knife to add more peanut butter to the sandwich so that the possibility of germs being spread is lessened. If he wants cereal, he must have the entire box to himself and I must package it into individual size servings as soon as it is opened and I must wear gloves.

And although the food thing is crazy, I do not feel overwhelmed by it. I believe it will become second nature for us over the next 6 months or so. The one thing that will be hard is that Jackson already misses Cafe Rio and their Creamy Tomatillio Dressing, rice and black beans.

One big thing that was stressful is the list of things that had to be cleaned before Jackson could come home. Because his immune system is so fragile we had to "Spring Clean" our house before he can come home. The Bone Marrow Team gave me a booklet of things we had to have cleaned, and that list was long and detailed. Thank goodness we have such a wonderful Ward Family and incredible neighbors that helped me all day yesterday to get things ready. I have NO DOUBT that I could not have accomplished it all by myself.

We get one week at home. One week to recover and get rejuvenated before we go back for round two. One week will go by so fast we already have plans to put up our Christmas tree and to enjoy Thanksgiving at home. I am sure we will fill the time with lots more fun stuff.

We can't go anywhere for Thanksgiving because of the germs, so this will be the first time I have ever cooked an entire Thanksgiving feast all by myself. Wish me luck!