Day -9: Admission and Line Placement

Today is considered to be Day -9. The days are counted negative until Day Zero, which is transplant day. Then we start to count up, and hopefully up and up and never again back to a negative number.

Today was difficult, but in some ways easier to manage because we are on familiar territory with familiar faces. After a long morning of bouncing around from exam room to exam room, Ezra had his central line surgery. The line thankfully was placed correctly. This was Ezra's fourth central line surgery, not including his port surgery. Four years old and a chest full of scars - the chest of a fighter. Ezra still has his port, but for the many medications of transplant a central line with three access points is needed.

Ezra had a lot of pain from the surgery, but the pain meds are helping. We are hoping that he will feel better tomorrow after the huge pressure dressing is removed. He also seems to be accepting that the line is bak, better than this morning when it was all tears over the thought of the central line returning.

After surgery, Ezra was admitted to his room. Thankfully, we got a sunny room with a view of Ezra's beloved smoke stacks and the Queensboro bridge. Ezra is excited that he gets to have a sleepover with his pals Bert and Ernie. Dr. Ezra is back and taking new patients. 

Chemo starts tomorrow. The goal of the chemo is to kill off his current faulty immune system and make room in the marrow for the donor's healthy stem cells. It will likely take a few days before the side effects of the chemo start to kick in. 

It is still hard to believe that we are back here starting all over. We are keeping our eyes and hearts on the goal - a healthy Ezra.

This fortune was found in Ezra's cookie the other night. Let's hope this one comes true.