Day 69 Post Transplant

Blessed to have these 2 mammas!

I keep trying to get Marshall to provide an update here, but he has been super busy helping potty train Kez while I have been at work a lot. He is a super daddy! He's still tired and I am so thankful for all he has been willing to help with so I can help pay some bills and learn a new responsibity at work.

Kez sporting the outfit grandma Lucile got him from Hawaii

Kez has done really well with potty training so far and I hope he keeps it up. I know he's a little young for a boy, but his cognitive skills are getting better and every day he wakes up bigger. I really hope Marshall stays in remission this year for many reasons, but one of them is so that we can attempt to have more children via IVF. I love Kez so much and he makes every day better for our family.

Marshall goes into the hospital on a weekly basis now. He is there now doing a pamidrinate infusion for his bones. He has osteoporosis, so to try to avoid breaking bones, they do this infusion. He can tell you more about it when he finally gets on this blog again. His creatnine levels have been high for a while and doctors and P.A.s say it is very typical after being through not only one, but two bone marrow transplants. 

He still has not needed a blood transfusion through all of the second transplant. For a while, people kept coming up to me and asking, "Why is he so pale/yellow?" His blood levels were low for a while, but not low enough to receive a transfusion. Right now his blood is coming up on his own. Hopefully it will continue to do so because it's quite possible the leukemia would be coming back if it starts going down.

His 30 day bone marrow aspirate came out clean with 100 percent chimerism. This means he is working on his third set of DNA and we know through a slip of the delivery guy that this time his DNA is foreign (it came from a man outside of the United States). So now not only am I married to a younger bone marrow, but a foreign bone marrow. Life is never dull with this guy that's for sure!

Marshall's attitude is a lot like this and Kez's is like this at his appointments. Some weeks I have just been staying home with Kez now that Marshall is doing well. Since it is flu season soon Kezman will not be allowed in the clinic (no kids during this time of year).

 We had a great surprise from Landon Cooper from Miles to Give. Check out his story here: http://miles2give.org/.  He ran for Marshall on my birthday while we were in Texas.

Speaking of birthdays, Marshall turned 29! I always think his birthdays are extra special because if it weren't for a couple young men willing to donate their bone marrow, he would not be alive still today. This year thanks to my friend Jen I was able to take him to a Dave Matthews concert:

He also got a new bed that is supposed to be good for his back, but I think it is too firm for me. I have been doing a lot of things around the house to try to match the new paint and flooring that was put in the house while we were in Texas with Marshall's treatments. Maybe I will make a blog entry about all the steps of sanding, painting, all that if someone wants to know, but for now here are some pics.

Tyrel and Melanie moved out and I just want to give a special thank you to Melanie and Matt Mortensen for allowing us to enjoy our home a little more while Marshall has had to be couped up. We did make a temple trip with them before they left, so that's good!

We have a new sister in the Hunt family! Her name is Vanessa. She is from California and I just love her to pieces. Her and Sam are great for each other! We also found out that Matt and Brielle are having a BOY and I wish they were here for Kez to enjoy his new boy cousin, but they took off to Kansas so Matt could go to chiropractic school for a few years. Brielle's sister Jilisa threw a very fun gender reveal party.

Sorry for the picture overload, but I'm not feeling too wordy today- I'd rather show you what we've been doing. I pray every day that the Leukemia will stay away. In the meantime we try to make every day the best we can. In 30 days Marshall will have another biopsy- his 100 day check-up.  Doctors say there is a seventy-five percent chance that it will come back and we will be back to square 1. I am hoping that Marshall falls in the twenty five percent category like he fell in the twenty five percent category last year when it came back after first transplant. I try to keep myself busy to keep the numbers from nagging at my scientifically-minded mind. If it does, we will continue to fight. Thanks for reading our blog and fighting along with us while you have your own challenges in life. We love you all- to your health!