March 02, 2006 at 10:08 PM EST

March 02, 2006 at 10:08 PM EST
Day "0" and Counting

Well yesterday was a very long, busy, tense day for us. Marriana was harvested for 9 hours on the esphersis machine. She arrived at the hospital at 7:30 am and did not finish until almost 8 pm. She was a trooper. She handled it pretty well with expected times of being scared and crying and also curious but nervous. It was very hard to see her hooked up to a machine that was extracting her blood through her jugler vein in her neck but the good news is her collection was excellent and plenty to give to Simon. She and Isabel played on the bed together all day and watched dvds and ate alot of junk. But all in all Marriana sat very still and patient through the whole ordeal. At the end when the catheter was taken out after pressure was put on the vein, marriana started crying and blood shot out of her next like a geyser, I almost passed out and it was not a site that I enjoyed seeing. She didn't even notice it happened, which is good, and Isabel was watching Snow White, thank goodness. We are so very proud of her and of Isabel for being her support.

Simon did receive her cells today. He was moved to an isolation room last night where he and I spent the first of what will be many nights before we even know if we have engraftment. If you want to pray for us, pray that he has engraftment over the next few weeks. Simon has run into some issues with his kidney function and was not able to eat the last two days because his sodium is high. They are slowly trying to lower it and he was able to take 1 ounce every 3 hours. Its been a rough few sleepless nights. I had to come home to get rest tonight and Dave is at the hospital on call tonight. The chair "bed" in the room is less than comfy. Simons sodium levels have come down a bit so we pray that trend continues.

He received Marrianas cells at 10:30 this morning. Pretty uneventful as he slept through the whole thing and seemed fine with it all. We hope to see no side affects from the transplant, especially skin issues, Graft vs. Host diseasse. Since he and Marriana's blood types are not compatable (he is O Negative and she is B Positive)they tried to filter out as much red cells as possible and only give him her white cells which is what he really needs. Now we wait and pray.

In this time of renewal and time of prayer we pray for the Rebirth of our sons immune system through the generous donation of his sisters cells. May God have mercy and give Simon a new chance at a healthy happy life. Please pray for him. Thanks Tracy and David