My beautiful niece Gracie was recently diagnosed with Neuroblastoma (cancer). It is still early in the diagnosis and we are awaiting results to know more about the fight that Gracie will face. I've created this blog as an outlet for friends and family to stay informed about her journey and a way for friends and family to make anonymous contributions towards her care and the mounting expenses her family will face. Gracie is a fighter and the bravest 3 year old I know. Hundreds of people love you Gracie and are praying for you. "Be strong and of good courage for the Lord thy God is with thee" Joshua 1:9


Friday, September 24, 2010

Day 0, AKA Transplant Day!!!


Gracie keeps having a lot of nausea and vomiting so they turned off her feeds for a day or two. Her mouth is very raw now and will likely get worse as the days go by. So far she is still sucking her thumb but they say a lot of kids stop for good with the mouth sores. She doesn't complain of pain too much so the pain pump must be helping so that is good.
Ive had an emotional 24 hours. I think the stress caught up to me and having my husband here, I was finally able to let it all out. I am so grateful to have him. He is the only one who can understand how I feel. He will be here through Tuesday and come back next week. I mis my other kids so much and I'm grateful for my mom for staying with them.
The transplant itself is pretty uneventful. It took less than an hour. The man from the blood bank brought it in a big bucket of nitrogen and when he opened it, it made a little cloud like homemade root beer. :) then they thawed them out for a few minutes and hung it up like a bag of blood. now she smells like creamed corn. It is from the preservative they use, that makes the kids smell like creamed corn for about 24 hours. It is a really strong smell and fills up the whole room. It gave me a pretty decent headache. Lol, but she doesn't seem to be bothered by it. They say a lot of kids get nauseated from the smell.
tonight she starts her GCSF shots again that help with the white count coming back. She will have the shots for 10+ days. Now we are just stuck here waiting for her counts to return to normal which should take a few weeks. Things will get worse before they get better. After that she will have radiation for two weeks. They start that around day 42 if she is doing good.

2 comments:

  1. You guys seem to be holding up so well and I am glad you are able to update everyone on the progress of little Gracie. Thinking of you!

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  2. Another day closer to a healthy Gracie. Thank you, God, the wonderful doctors that are treating her, and all of you, her wonderful family.

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