Saturday, April 19, 2008

Happy Birthday Again!?!

Happy birthday to Joy! Joy celebrated her original birthday this month. And, happily, she had a birthday surprise of having no nausea for four days straight! This meant she got to enjoy celebrating her birthday with her siblings and going to another family party. She also got to take a relaxing and scenic car ride with Ken--yea!

Joy's also at her 100-day mark after the transplant. At this point her new bone marrow is doing a great job producing platelets and white blood cells. It's not producing red blood cells yet, and the doctors aren't quite sure why. However, red blood cell production usually increases between 80 and 120 days after the transplant, so she's still right in the middle of the time frame. She's started to have a lot tests for the 100-day mark, including a bone marrow biopsy which should help the doctors understand more about the red blood cell production and how to treat Joy more specifically. Meanwhile, Joy continues to give herself nightly IVs and remains restricted from travel.

On another note, the kids have been illness free for 2 1/2 weeks straight, meaning Joy's been able to be with them at her own home! Hoorah! Grace, thrilled and intrigued about this development, asked a visiting friend, "Do you want to come see my Mom?" Show and tell or no, Joy's having a great time being with the kids, particularly as the twins are becoming more and more chatty. And, Joy's even been able to do pilates a couple times a week for about 10 minutes a time! :)