Facebook update from Help Anton

Day 0 Jason and the kids came up yesterday for transplant day. Child Life gave Anton gifts to give to Kenya and Judah so he did that and they spent a lot of time playing with their new toys. Someone from Child Life also came in and helped the kids make "blood soup" using red hots for the red blood cells, rice for platelets, marshmallows for white blood cells, and corn syrup for the plasma. She taught them what healthy blood would look like using those things and taught what each of their jobs were. Then she explained how with a transplant they have to make room for the new healthy cells so that is why they gave Anton special medicines to help his counts drop so they the donors cells could grow. The kids learned a lot and it was easier for them to understand after she explained it. A few hours after they got here our nurse came in and told us we needed to move rooms because they needed the room for another patient. I am so glad Jason was here to help pack and move everything to our new room. The good news is this room has a tub for Anton to use. Parents have a separate bathroom in the hall because you can't share a bathroom with a bmt patient who is potty trained. Jason and the kids brought Anton lots of transplant gifts which he loved opening and playing with. We gave Anton a blanket with an elephant holding on to a star balloon. We told him that when he looked at the stars in the sky those were the very same stars his donor was looking at so we could always remember to pray for her and that thank God for the gift she gave Anton when we look up at the stars at night. We spent the rest of the evening playing games and hanging out. We ordered pizza for dinner, prayed for Anton's transplant, and Jason got a quick nap in before transplant. When it came time for transplant Judah and Anton were pretty sleepy. The hospital gave Anton some gifts so he opened them. Then they hooked up his new bone marrow to his central line. Once that was done Judah and Anton both fell asleep. His transplant started at 11:48pm and ended at 12:23am. Anton slept through most of it but did wake up to throw up once, the nurses said most kids throw up during transplant, and he went potty towards the end. There was one doctor in the room and I think 4 nurses. They let the marrow go in using gravity and Anton's wasn't really going at first. They flushed his line a few times then it went in pretty fast after that. Once it was done Jason, Kenya, and Judah all went home, Anton and I fell asleep. Now we wait for his new cells to grow. This will be the hard part of transplant. Most kids get pretty sick over the next few weeks as their new cells start to grow. We are praying for our sweet boy and praising God Anton has the opportunity to receive healthy blood making cells!!! - March 27, 2015 at 05:52PM http://ift.tt/1r2lUi4