BMT Birthday

Yesterday was such a great day! It is awesome to know that it is done and that Aubree is on her way out of the hospital and with her battle with leukemia! I am going to let the pictures tell most of the story!

Aubree's second chemo drug made her retain fluids so they had to weigh her night and day, here they are weighing her at night and she never even woke up. HA!

Here Nelson is after we checked into same day surgery. He was not to keen on these pj's, but he put them on for me and then posed! He was so good, he woke up at 5:30 AM to be there on time at 6 AM! After they took us to a big room to weight for him to go back and talk to the Dr's. He was excited because he got to play Mario Cart, so the pj's were worth it! Here we are chillin and waiting.

Nelson had some drugs before going back to the OR, so he got a wagon ride there, they wouldnt let him walk, and its so much more fun than a wheel chair!We couldnt go back to the OR with him, and so here is the line that parents can not cross, the Dr is distracting him so he wont care that we werent going with him!
Bye Nelson!



I went to see Aubree before going home to shower for the day, here she is on the day of her transplant, waiting for her new bone marrow.
Nelson in his tiny bed after surgery.
After he woke up the first thing he asked for was to play Mario Cart, but he settled for a root beer slushy. He loved it and drank almost all of it.Nelson playing with his toys that he got from strangers that had heard about what he was doing. We were so touched that people were so generous to our family.Resting with grandma since we didnt have the Wii yet.We finally got the Wii!He did take a break to play with his cars every once in awhile!Dave our nurse for the day setting things up for the transplantWaiting. We were supposed to start around 3:30, but when we finally did start it was around 5:30.The guy from the U who walked the bone marrow over from the lab.Nelson's bone marrow. Aubree was suppose to get two bags like this. But they divided into two because Nelson's and Aubree's blood type do not match so they didnt want her having a huge reaction to the red blood cells that were left in the bag. As it turns out Nelson had such good bone marrow, if they would have given her both bags it would have been enough for 3 transplants. So they took the second bag and froze it just in case Aubree needs it later on for one reason or another.Hooking her up and starting the transplant. The bone marrow team calls this the patients second birthday. These transplants are life saving, Aubree would have had a 10% survival with out it, and with it her odds jumped up to 90%. We liked them better. Because its a birthday to them they come and give presents to both the donor and the patient. They also sang happy birthday. It was really sweet.Here Nelson is ready to go home, he really was that pale from giving his bone marrow. We have to make sure to feed him iron rich foods, and give him extra iron supplements to help him.His bag of loot of everything he got. He really scored in the toy department!Dave "washing" out the bag making sure that all the bone marrow gets inside Aubree.We are done!! The transplant finished aroun 7:30 at night. We were all exhasted and so happy it was done and able to go to bed! Nelson today, he is really tired but he has grandpa looking out and taking care of him. He also was playing with all his new toys! He loves them so thank you to everyone to gave him things!

Thank you to my parents, we couldnt have done this without your help! Also you will notice that Aundrea is not in any of these pictures. Thank you Amy for taking such good care of her! I never have to worry about her when she is with you and you always take her so willingly whenever we need your help! Thank you so much!

We are so excited to start the next phase. No more chemo but Aubree will be on immunosupressents for over a year. We will still have to be careful and crowd free, but we have Aubree and it is ALL worth it. I would do it for years more if it ment having her here with us. She is really the trooper here and Nelson. They are the two heros of the experience! I am so grateful for them both!

Chemo Drugs

Erin this one is for you!! I don't have time to figure out your email, Aubree is actually playing in her crib and I know that it wont last long! The drugs that she is on are, the first four days Busulfan, and the last four days it is Cytoxan. She also will get four small doses of methotrexate on days1,3,6,and 11 after transplant to kill any T cells from Nelson.
Lizzie, in theory when breast feeding you can transmit viruses and she would get sick and then put the bone marrow transplant in jeopardy and they could be fatal to her. This was a big help in making the decision, but after I see so many other benefits of doing it. One a bottle really is easier for her to drink from so she is eating a lot better from a bottle then she ever did from me Also it helps me get out more. I am not always freaking out because I am scared my mom has hungry baby on her hands because I took to long to get back. The Docs differ on what they say about breast feeding, the younger doc seems ok with it and the older one is against it. (thats the one I talked to) All in all I am happy with my decision to stop, she got the benefits for a long time, I wished that I could have done it longer, but it has made all out lives easier, and anything that makes Aubrees life easier is better!
Anywhoo there are the answers for today. She seems to be doing good, she is getting mouth sores though, she is drooling and not eating. We started her on pain meds today, her heart rate was up and went down with them so that is an indicator that she was in pain. But all in all it is going good.

Starting to feel it.......

Aubree started the second chemo drug last night. She breezed through the first drug without much problem, but this one seems to really be taking out of her. She is really starting to feel miserable and irritable. The doctors told us that she probably would with this drug and the nurses tell us that it takes the cake of all chemo drugs. I feel so bad for her, she still has three doses left and I hope that she makes it through it without to much more discomfort. I am at the point that I hope she just sleeps because it would be better for her. She is on so many drugs and she's not even sick yet. I cant imagine what her IV pole and her lines will look like here in a couple of days when they have everything on there! Her appetite is really going down so I imagine here in the next week she will be put on TPN, but we will see. We are gearing up for the transplant and Nelson's role this week. Aundrea has a date with her cousin to sleep over for a couple of days and Nelson doesnt know what is coming. At times I feel so guilty for doing this to him, and I hope that he bounces back with out flinching. I am so grateful that Aubree has a match in him. Thank you for all your thoughts of love and prayers. We feel them, I feel them daily!



Aubree in her crib. My mom made these bumper pads for her so that we dont have to worry about her hitting her head when she has not platelet counts! They are really cute. This time around we got a 1960's crib and none of the nurses can work it. We have to have each night nurse come in and figure it out before she goes to bed. But I like the crib because its so big she has a lot of room to move around and play in.

The view from our room! I love it! Its great because I get to look out over the valley and Aubree gets to watch everything that is going on out on the road and in the emergency room parking lot. (its usually very busy).

Aubree looking out the window. I know that this will keep her happy for at least a couple of minutes. This is also a good picture of her broviac line. I have decided that she feels like it is a part of her and she gets upset when the nurses have to come and do anything with it like they were touching her. But she has has it just as long as she didnt have it, so it makes sense.

Transplant round

watching her brother and sister in the bath tub wishing!We are back in the hospital again. We were admitted on Tuesday at 5AM, and Aubree started chemo at 6 AM. She is doing good still, we started her on a second nausea medication yesterday and that seems to be working. I am sure that we will have to start all three again here soon, but for now she is good. She is not showing any side effects yet, but it usually takes about 7 days, and she is on day three.

This round is different than the others. They started her out with antibiotics right off the bat, they also have her on a calorie count. I stopped breast feeding her so now she is on formula and that is a different monster all of its own. I dont think that the dietitians like me much. I hate not having control over what my child eats, and everyone telling me what they should and shouldnt eat and how much. I am sure that I will get over it, its only 6 weeks right?

We had so much fun at home, its so sad to be back in. Aubree learned how to army crawl and by the end of our time home, she loved to just play with her brother and sister. We did opt for the 1960's crib because its a LOT bigger and she can play around in it so much better, since I never put her on the floor to play. Heres to wishing that everything goes well, even though I am pretty sure that she will get really sick this time also.