Hunter blows us away in every way possible. He's such a unique kid and he's starting to glow more and more every day. When he was first diagnosed with AML Leukemia at 14 months......he was still just a baby. He was just then starting to show his colors. And then once he got sick....he kind of zipped it up for awhile and kept to himself. Now........he's full on enjoying himself, laughing and playing and expressing himself like never before. It's a strange thing that makes it that much harder to believe that he's really as sick as he is. There is a cancer in his body that could take his life and it just doesn't seem real when he's racing around the room, giggling, having the best time he's had in the last year. Mentally..........it's kinda no fun.
We still haven't had our official "Bone Marrow Transplant - talk" with the doctors - but apparently, it's a really hard session. We'll be told the worse possible outcomes, all the terrible risks and all of the horrifying things that we'll be experiencing for the next 30 to 90 days. We've heard through the grapevine that actually seeing your child get radiated leaves a forever imprint in your mind that will remain with a punch in the gut for the rest of our lives. After the actual transplant, there is a disease called Graft-versus-host which will be when Hunter's body accepts or rejects the bone marrow that is trying to take over his body. It's the disease brought on by the effort to cure the leukemia that could actually kill him. Apparently we were told not to wish for it, but that it was a good thing if he got it "a little".........but that if he gets it too badly.........there's no pulling back.
He looks at us and smiles so big every day now.................and he has no idea what's about to happen.
I've collected some photos of some of Hunter's procedures and events over the last year 1/2 of his life. Much different than mine or Zen's first 2 years of existence.
Below: Hunter's 1st round of chemo, December 2007, at 14 months.
A 104 degree fever.
Hunter and Mom.
Playing in the hospital windowsill.
Hunter's Pic Line. He's had 5 of these.
We refer to these as the "Acid" Eye Drops. Hunter HATES them.
Dad letting go. We've said it before..........it's one of the worse parts.
No words for this.
Sometimes this was a daily dose of meds.
After all the Pic Lines came out, he was given a Broviac. He will be getting another one of these right before his bone marrow transplant.
Routine Echocardiograms to check the status of his heart.
We refer to these as the "Acid" Eye Drops. Hunter HATES them.
Dad letting go. We've said it before..........it's one of the worse parts.
No words for this.
Sometimes this was a daily dose of meds.
After all the Pic Lines came out, he was given a Broviac. He will be getting another one of these right before his bone marrow transplant.
Routine Echocardiograms to check the status of his heart.
Tuning everyone out.
Cat Scan
But when it's all said and done.....................he still ends up smiling.
Swollen and sad.
Cat Scan
Bone Scan.
Under Anesthesia.
After his Bronchoscopy - 104 degree fever..............again.
His Pneumonia.
Bad reaction to drug.
Under Anesthesia.
After his Bronchoscopy - 104 degree fever..............again.
His Pneumonia.
****************WARNING*********************
But when it's all said and done.....................he still ends up smiling.
3 comments:
Thank you for sharing pictures of your beautiful boy with us...You're always in our thoughts and prayers.
Love & Light & Perfect Health,
The Patrix
Dear Hunter and family,
I'm Jean from the National Bone Marrow Transplant Link, an organization which helps patients and caregivers cope with the social and emotional challenges of transplant by providing vital information and personalized support services. We subscribe to Google blog alerts, where we found your story.
Please know that others are thinking of you and rooting for you! I would like to send you our award-winning booklet, Caregivers' Guide for Bone Marrow/Stem Cell Transplant: Practical Perspectives. There's a chapter written by the mom of an 8-year-old patient that I think you would find very helpful. If you email your mailing address to me at jeanjones@nbmtlink.org, I'll send it right out.
All the best to you!
you are all my heroes! as a mother that lost her son, i can totally appreciate what you r going through!my son died in his sleep @ 19yrs old...i'm grateful for those 19 years, but i still wanted more time! i have a 16yr old daughter, and my husband and i thinks she's the bees knees~lol~ i really think the world of you both, because you loved your son to life~bless you!
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