A new perspective...

Here’s a new perspective for you. This time its Keri writing, I and my mom flew up on the 6th and we will stay till the 26th. I am so happy to be here and to be spending time with Scarlett and Adrianna but we are having our ups and downs. Today Adrianna went through full body radiation and she’s not feeling too hot, she’s been pretty nauseous and throwing up since we got back to the Children’s hospital and the medicines not doing much to help stop it. Tomorrow we start day 0! She will get her transplant at noon; luckily it can be done in her room. I feel like Adrianna’s spirits are up and they have been since we got here. Even though these next 2 days are going to be really rough, she seems to be ok mentally.
On an easier note, since I’ve been here we’ve gotten to have some fun. With a photographer that took pictures of us all messing around, and me and her painting while listening to music like Justin Bieber, Hannah Montana, and Jeremiah Mullins and just getting to hang out every day. It’s been 5 days and she won’t let me leave her side (not that I care) but even to eat, I get death glares. I have stayed every night but one and when she sleeps I busy myself, and when she’s awake we watch TV, talk, paint, play pranks on our mothers, take small walks, and just have fun.  I sit here at 845pm and think about this little girl that has taken my heart and become one of the most important, strongest people I know. I have been here in Seattle for 5 days and I always see a smile (or smirk) on her face. I feel like I am constantly in awe of her strength and I strive to have half as much as she does. For all 4 of us these next couple of days/weeks are going to be difficult but I know combining the strength that each one of us posses we will get through it. As I think about my most recent tattoo, that I got for Adrianna “For she is far more precious than jewels” proverbs 31:10 I think of how accurate it is. This beautiful, strong, stubborn, and pure hearted little girl is so much more precious than jewels. Watching her heart and her strength throughout this all gives me hope to continue.
Right now Scarlett is finally getting the sleep she so desperately needs, and Adrianna is sleeping off the medication and resting from the radiation today, as I’m sure resting for the big operation tomorrow. Earlier today she wasn’t feeling well and she was very nauseous, since then all she has done is sleep and she seems to be feeling better.

So it begins...

Day -6 

A skin test will be done at 8am to see if there is any adverse reaction to h-ATG. If there is no reaction conditioning will begin today. So it's official the countdown begins. So it counts down from Day -6 thru Day Zero. Day Zero is the transplant day: May 11, 2011.

Day -6 thru Day -1:

Conditioning:

Chemotherapy, and radiation

Day 0

Transplant

Overview- Medical Jargon

Overview of Dree's procedure

I went ahead and cut and paste Adrianna's procedure just so everyone knows exactly what is going on.  I will be sending brief updates via text or Facebook. Also after this post I will post a more personal outline and what our next week will look like. Please keep us in prayer we love you all and miss you dearly! 

Low-dose chemotherapy and radiation, followed by a stem cell transplant that uses umbilical cord blood as the stem cell source, in patients who cannot tolerate a standard transplant treatment. Standard transplant treatments use higher doses of drugs and radiation and different types of drugs.

The doses  of chemotherapy and irradiation therapy you receive are low and work to suppress the cells of the immune system so that the new cells can grow in or engraft.  This type of transplant will rely on the new  immune system to destroy the remaining  cells.  In this type of transplant, there is a time when there is a mixture of your immune system and the  donor’s immune system.  This is called mixed chimerism.   

Treatment for autoimmune diseases may include drugs that suppress the immune system as well as therapies that target specific organs affected. There are no known cures for autoimmune diseases. In some cases, however, stem cell transplants are used to prevent the progression of the disease and to lessen symptoms.

Conditioning
To treat blood or immune system diseases using a transplant, doctors first give the patient chemotherapy, radiation, or both. This process is called Conditioning.


Chemotherapy
Using high-potency drugs that target quickly dividing cells and destroy them. Some of the healthy cells (such as hair follicles, cells in the lining of the mouth and intestines and normal bone marrow stem cells) are also quickly dividing cells, so they are killed as well—their destruction results in some of the side effects patients experience.