Day 98

Gabriel has been counting down the days till Wednesday. (Day 100) I asked him why he was counting..was he scared about the bone marrow aspiration?..nervous? He said, no, he's just counting. I think it may have something to do with the fact that day 100 is a milestone on the healing road from transplant. He's heard us talking excitedly about that.

We'll be asking the doctor on Wednesday if he can start having fresh strawberries to eat. Gabe has been on a "low bacteria" diet since transplant. Apparently the berries with little seeds (strawberries, raspberries,etc.) have a greater risk of having bacteria left on them even after washing because of all those little crevasses from the seeds. I picked the first strawberry from my patch the other day and Gabriel is really hoping to eat some soon!

We 've been tapering Gabriel's prednisone for a while now. It's a very slow taper. Last Sunday, day 90, he got to quit taking one of his meds that he's been taking since transplant. In a few weeks he'll be done with the prednisone. At the same time he'll get to stop taking 2 other meds that he's taking because of the prednisone! We do a little happy dance when he gets to quit one of his meds! He was going to smash the leftovers in the bottle last weekend, but he ended up just tossing them in the garbage. Every little step of progress like ending a med is a time for rejoicing in our home!

Gabriel also stopped doing his phototherapy two weeks ago and we had a follow up with the dermatologist. He told me to just keep an eye on any signs of rash returning, but so far so good!!! Praise God! One more step!

The only sign of GVHD left to completely overcome is some digestive issues. Overall, Gabriel is still doing well, but he has ups and downs with his bm's. He's been eating well though, and able to eat good, healthy foods - which fortunately he likes!

Like Gabriel is saying .....2 more days.....till his bone marrow sample. We won't have complete results for 7-10 days afterwards though. I'll post as soon as we hear something.

I believe in my heart that they are not going to find anything but healthy, donor cells in that sample. I believe that all your prayers are reaching our great God and that Gabriel is on his way to a full recovery. I won't breath completely easy till Feb.19,2008 - his 1 year anniversary of transplant, but I believe that we're going to get there. Even then, I will always have a small nagging worry that he may relapse or get another cancer or some other devestating side effect because of all the radiation . I will have to fight that and continually give my anxiety to the Lord. He alone determines the number of days we all have on this earth, and He is sovereign. (All my kids are in His hands - not just Gabe!)

Blessings to you and yours! Thank you to those who have served our nation with their lives, both those still here and those gone, on this Memorial Day. We salute you and your families for your sacrifice.

Lisa