Day +16
It looks like his counts are now on the rise! We are waiting for his neutrophil count to reach 500 and steadily remain above that count before getting discharged. Once it stays above that count, the doctors said we can then look back at that first day he reached 500 and say that's the day his brother's cells fully grafted into his system. From that point on, I become a neurotic watchman over him until we reach day +100. After that, I am allowed to become a little ness neurotic for up to a year (because we all know how easy it is to become less neurotic about something). Based on how his numbers are patterning, the doctors have projected that we may be able to get out of these 4 white walls as early as MONDAY!! Freedom will never have tasted so sweet to my little boy. I am certain of that.
Today is a special day for us because it is my middle buddy's birthday. We did celebrate as a family a full month early so that we could celebrate it together. Our middle child is funny in that his love language is food. I knew it from the womb because when I was pregnant with that one, I had an intense love affair like never before with all foods, especially meat. Meals were never more enjoyable than in those months that he was housed in my belly. At a full 9.1 pounds at birth, he has always been our hefty and strong one. He may not be the tallest of our boys, but he sure weighs above and beyond both his brothers. The first thing he tells me when he puts down his backpack after school is what he had for lunch. He's the one to follow his nose to the kitchen and ask, "What are you cooking, mommy? Smells good!" He's the first one to sit at the table, waiting for his food. But he's also the first one to ask me where my plate of food is when they eat, the first one to tell me I look pretty when I put on a new outfit, the first one to notice that my toes are painted a different color, the first one to ask if the painter working on our house has had time to eat his lunch yet. He also has expressed that he may not want to be a doctor when he grows up because he hears his dad telling me all the time that he didn't have time to eat lunch that day. And that is a big no no. When he tells me stories about his day, he doesn't just tell me what happened, he tells what he noticed about that person's face expression, how he thinks that person might have felt, and how others reacted to that person. When he laughs, it's contagious because his joy just exudes his entire body, and when he cries, his heart completely breaks and my heart shatters with him. He is trusting (please refer to story about boogers and eye lash curlers) and deeply loyal. And so today, I wanted to take time to recognize just a snippet of all the reasons why our middle child has been such an incredible blessing to our family. The squeaky wheel is always the one that gets the grease, so despite him rarely being the squeaky wheel, I hope he understands one day just how profoundly he has captured my heart and how everything about him goes wonderfully noticed in my eyes.
Today is a special day for us because it is my middle buddy's birthday. We did celebrate as a family a full month early so that we could celebrate it together. Our middle child is funny in that his love language is food. I knew it from the womb because when I was pregnant with that one, I had an intense love affair like never before with all foods, especially meat. Meals were never more enjoyable than in those months that he was housed in my belly. At a full 9.1 pounds at birth, he has always been our hefty and strong one. He may not be the tallest of our boys, but he sure weighs above and beyond both his brothers. The first thing he tells me when he puts down his backpack after school is what he had for lunch. He's the one to follow his nose to the kitchen and ask, "What are you cooking, mommy? Smells good!" He's the first one to sit at the table, waiting for his food. But he's also the first one to ask me where my plate of food is when they eat, the first one to tell me I look pretty when I put on a new outfit, the first one to notice that my toes are painted a different color, the first one to ask if the painter working on our house has had time to eat his lunch yet. He also has expressed that he may not want to be a doctor when he grows up because he hears his dad telling me all the time that he didn't have time to eat lunch that day. And that is a big no no. When he tells me stories about his day, he doesn't just tell me what happened, he tells what he noticed about that person's face expression, how he thinks that person might have felt, and how others reacted to that person. When he laughs, it's contagious because his joy just exudes his entire body, and when he cries, his heart completely breaks and my heart shatters with him. He is trusting (please refer to story about boogers and eye lash curlers) and deeply loyal. And so today, I wanted to take time to recognize just a snippet of all the reasons why our middle child has been such an incredible blessing to our family. The squeaky wheel is always the one that gets the grease, so despite him rarely being the squeaky wheel, I hope he understands one day just how profoundly he has captured my heart and how everything about him goes wonderfully noticed in my eyes.
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