The "plan".
Dear Friends,
If you’re reading this you can picture Jason and I sandwiching you in a huge hug because we’re genuinely so thankful for you and the role you’ve played in this last year of our lives.
We wanted to share a quick update on Colton’s bone marrow transplant, where we are and where we’re headed. Please note this does not contain all the nitty gritty details for your own sanity:
Last Monday Colton got a new port placed into his chest- they have to be able to access his blood stream from two places during transplant in case of him needing an antibiotic and a transfusion. Praise God- It went great!
Tuesday evening we started his “conditioning” regimen which is a week long chemo treatment in preparation for his transplant. The goal of conditioning is to completely wipe out all of the cells in his bone marrow- to the point of no recovery. This will help make room for the new bone marrow and hopefully say good riddens to any lingering leukemia cells.
Today Colton gets a much deserved day of rest from all meds and chemo and then Tomorrow (8/25) is transplant day!
I am the donor- we’ve been getting lots of questions about this! There are a lot of different ways to go about getting a donor. Most hospitals search the world wide system for donors that fully match the genetic make up of the patient. You should sign up and save someones life at https://bethematch.org/ !
Hopkins offers haplo transplants as well- where parents can be a half match. I can’t fully explain the difference or the reasoning behind why we chose this route other than saying we prayed a lot and felt this was the best option for Colton. The only reason Jason is not the donor is because him and Colton don’t share the same blood type!
Tuesday I will go under aneasthesia in the morning and later that day they will infuse my bone marrow cells into Colton’s port. (It’s not a procedure on his end!).
From there we wait to see the cells “engraph” which means Colton’s body takes to the marrow and the marrow grows to be strong and healthy in his body!
There are a lot of risks and complication that they say will come but we say we’ll see. :)
We are planning to be inpatient for 2.5-3.5 weeks until his counts start to recover and then we have a long term air b&b booked in Baltimore until the end of December.
For now: he’s doing really well, playing and eating like normal and we’re thanking God for every day we get to spend together.
I was talking with a friend Saturday about the procedure. The hospital calls it Colton’s “new birthday”. I’m a little surprised at myself that I don’t have stronger feelings about the transplant. I’m a high feeler so if you know, you know. ;) I think it’s because we’re not waiting for a procedure, a life event or a certain day to call Colton healed. We don’t have to wait on the move of God, we are the move of God. We get to claim healing and restoration over his body today.
And so that’s what we plan to do- Pray for miracles and peace and joy and we won’t wait until they’re right in front of us to believe they’re here. We’ll trust that they’re coming even in the midst of the waiting.
How you can pray:
-The current visitor policy restricts Jason and I from being here together. That is dang hard. Please pray that it changes, not just for us but for other pediatric patients as well!
-Pray for no side effects (specifically mucisitis, fevers, rashes, graph vs. host disease)
-Pray that Colton continues to eat well!
-Pray for Jason and I- for our marriage and for wisdom and sound minds.
Thanks for carrying us through.
We love you!
xx,
the dietrich’s