39 days

Well, today marks 39 days on the stem cell unit.  6 days of chemo, 2 days of rest, 1 day of transplant and then we started counting up.  Today is officially Day +30.  Over all, Reese has done remarkably well other than a bloodstream infection that cleared and a whole lot of vomiting and feeding intolerance.  Despite this, she has gained nearly 2 lbs (thanks to IV nutrition mostly) and is a pro sitter now.  She is starting to enjoy/tolerate tummy time and she is quite the socialite/chatty baby.

We are still working on feeds but things are going much much better now and we are GOING HOME TODAY!  (barring any huge struggles this morning).   Her bone marrow is still working hard to churn out cells so her platelets and hemoglobin still have to be watched for transfusion needs.  Her white blood cell count bounces up and down from day to day and some of those cells won't function properly for 6-9 months.  Nonetheless, we are hopefully on the upswing.  Reese has her next MRI on May 8th and we will anxiously await good results, in hopes that we are one step closer to being DONE with cancer.  The MRIs will continue every 3 months for some time until we are able to space them further.  Reese will spend her whole life riding into the donut (MRI machine) but if that's all she has to endure, we won't complain!

Thank you all for your prayers and support.  We are tired and oh so ready to live at home instead of the hospital as we have since August 27. There are still many more things to work through with Reese but she is so spirited that I think she's going to surprise us.  I'm planning on moving her pack n play mattress down when we get home because I saw her trying to sit up on her own yesterday!

In 3-4 hours, I should be able to do my "happy dance" as we roll out of here.  We are hopeful that we won't have to be readmitted for anything and this will be our last "leaving the hospital" day.  This makes our 8th hospital discharge in 8 months.  Ca-razy!