The Transplant Journey Begins!

Day One
We arrived at Levine Children's Hospital this morning just before 8:15. I can't describe the feeling I had as we walked through the doors. I had so many thoughts and feelings running through my head. We got checked in and waited to be called back. While we waited Landen slept the whole time and Luke may or may not have fallen asleep too! ;-) They finally called us back to pre-op around 9:50.

 

Everything went smoothly and they took him back to the OR shortly after 11. The procedure was done in just under an hour and the doctor said it went great! We are so thankful! We try not to think about all of the risks involved but right before the procedure the doctors are required to tell you about them and it definitely gets scary! We had to wait for Landen to be moved to a recovery room so we grabbed a quick bite to eat while we waited. We finished eating and were able to go see him. He was sleeping good...he was out! We were in recovery for maybe an hour and they moved us to his room. We got to his room just before 2:00. The nurse showed us his room and gave us a tour of our floor. Once Landen got settled I started unpacking and organizing the room. Shortly after we arrived in our room Landen got a special delivery!

Thank you to some very special people! :-)

It was a busy afternoon just getting moved in and establishing his care. A little before 7 Luke left to go get us some supper and right after he left Landen told me he was bleeding. I jumped up and lifted his shirt and sure enough blood was coming from his hickman line. I immediately called the nurse and she came right away. I don't handle blood well but I was trying really hard but he started bleeding pretty bad and I started feeling nauseous so I had to sit down and start fanning. By this time there was a second nurse helping out and they were both very understanding and nice to check on me. I was fine but I was worried about the bleeding. It took a little while to stop and two dressing changes but it finally started to look better. The nurse explained that this can happen after this type of procedure and especially as he starts to move around a little more. The wound is fresh and more than likely his platelets are low again which causes the bleeding. They will check his blood early in the morning and the doctors will come by so we'll see if he needs a platelet transfusion. Tomorrow morning Landen will start taking Campath and it is likely he won't feel great while taking it but we will see. Landen is doing really well. He is really sore but as usual he is handling it like a champ! He enjoyed his Cheez-It's, Coke and Andy Griffith before bed tonight!

Day one is in the books! We are so grateful for all of the prayers for Landen and our family. We cannot describe how much it means to have people tell us they are praying for us. Please continue as the journey is just beginning! Thank you so much!!