Two Parties and The Talk

June has just been packed! This has been the first time in the last couple of weeks that I've actually had the energy to want to blog. One of the reasons is that we are suddenly the parents of two children again. Last Thursday, as I was on my way home from work, my cell phone rang. It was the 8D receptionist advising me that Benjamin was ready to be discharged! Well! Since we were meeting Ben's primary doctor Friday morning for "The Talk" (more on that later), we asked that we only be discharged Friday. That bought us enough time to tidy the house and start emptying Ben's hospital room of the flotsam and jetsam which invariably accumulates over a 4 week stay. But all this to say that Ben has been home since last Friday, and will be readmitted to the hospital on July 2nd, when his "conditioning" starts. We are restricted in what we can do at home however. Even Emily has had to be isolated to a certain extent, and missed her first week of swimming lessons, to avoid bringing home any unwanted "guests".

We were able to get in a birthday party for her this past Saturday. We shipped Benjamin off to Nonna's house for the duration and welcomed 12 children and their families into our backyard. We set up the "big" pool, barbecued, and had a Disney Princess piñata. Emily had a blast, and she deserved it since last year her birthday celebrations were also curtailed by Benjamin's (then unknown) medical condition. We weren't going to let that happen two years in a row.

The week before (Father's Day weekend) we were in Ottawa for my brother's wedding to his long-time girlfriend. Emily took her role of flower girl very seriously - until about 1/2 way through the ceremony. But it was a beautiful weekend, and even though Benjamin wasn't with us, it was still nice to get away and take part in such a happy occasion. The bonus was that instead of a traditional reception they decided to treat their nearest and dearest to a night at the Chateau Montebello, including a swank dinner in the fabulous dining room. Since dinner was late and Emily had already partied hard the night before at the party after the rehearsal, we arranged through the hotel for a babysitter to stay with Emily after we put her to bed. This allowed Roger and I to relax and enjoy the evening.

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"Yeah, yeah", you're all saying, "get on with it. What's up with Benjamin?" On Friday we had a two hour meeting with the doctor in which he spent the first minute expressing his optimism about the upcoming procedure, and then the next 119 minutes detailing the actual procedure and everything that could possibly go wrong with it, both short-term and long. Even knowing what we were getting into, I walked out of there shell-shocked and discouraged. It didn't help that after all this talk of potential relapse even after the transplant, one of the new patients on the floor was actually an old one. A boy who had undergone a bone marrow transplant this time last year (and who we know well), was admitted with fever and an infection, and wonky blood counts. As far as we now know everything is fine, but it was still a shock to see him on the floor again, a confirmation of future uncertainty.

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The procedure starts with conditioning, which is a countdown to transplant day. On July 2nd (T -7) we are admitted and immediately start total body irradiation (TBI) twice a day for three days. On day T -4, Ben starts 3 days of chemo. On T -3, he also starts three days of antithymocyte globulin (ATG) to help with the suppression of his immune system. And on T -0 (July 9th), Ben gets stem cells pushed in by IV over about 10 minutes and it's done - except for the fun part! All we know about the donor cord is that it is from a girl in the southern US who was born on Oct. 30, 2002. Her blood type is B positive, which means that Benjamin's blood type will change from A pos to B pos. And Ben might grow up to really like shopping. No biggie - long term effects of all the radiation and chemo include almost certain sterility and possible stunted physical and mental development.

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So on that note, we will enjoy this last weekend as a family together before the transplant, even in our semi-isolation. We will probably also have a family gathering to celebrate Ben's birthday in advance, since he will be behind glass when he turns two later in July. And if I don't post before we go in, Happy Canada Day everybody!