Day +1

Here we go, my friends. All that can be done has been done. I have typed up a post about Pipers transplant from yesterday but am having problems uploading pictures and really, you need pictures to see how awesomely amazing this was. Hopefully it will be up and running tomorrow.

Today marked day +1 and is the first day that the donors cells are wandering Pipers little body. Hopefully they will like what they see and willl chose to reside there forever. Time will tell. I can tell you though that Piper is doing wonderfully. The cultures came back from the fevers she has on Monday night as E.Coli...but the next days cultures didn't grow anything and they know the "umbrella" antibiotic they put her on as soon as she spiked is sensitive to E.Coli. They chalked it up to the ends of her line landing in her diaper which is disgusting but thankfully over. She has had no fevers since then. The drs decided to put her on another immunoglobulin which targets CMV because while her number haven't gone up, they also have not gone down. Hopefully this will help keep them steady until her body is strong enough to begin fighting it off again. Piper has thrown up once today with a lot of mucus so we think the mucositis ( mouth sores) are beginning. Everything we can see on her mouth and throat look fine but it begins way down in the GI tract where we cannot see. This is totally normal and is to be expected. Piper will have to get worse before she is able to become stronger...our prayer is that she engrafts quickly and those beautiful white blood cells can work their magic before any of the potential side effects worsen.

I was asked a few times today what engraftment meant. It means that her body is beginning to produce cells white blood cells again after being destroyed by the radiation and chemo. Once they see three days in a row of an ANC over 500 they consider her engrafted...this is good because it's the white cells that will help Piper to fight off infection and side effects that we know are coming. Engraftment can take place anytime from day 10 to day 40 although they feel like Piper falls into the sooner category because of her perfect 8/8 donor and the large quantity of marrow that was donated and used. I sure hope so. I have followed quite a few friends as they have maneuvered the transplant path and it is scary. I have glimpsed how bad this can get but I am hopeful that Piper will continue to amaze me and everyone around with her resiliency and ability to overcome odds.