Bye Bye Meema

This morning, I took Jo, Anna and my mom to the airport. Jo and Anna are headed to Texas for 10 days and my mom is headed home for good. When Jo comes home from Texas, her mom will come with her for the summer.

My mom was here with us for over 6 months and for that we will be forever indebted. The first 3 of those months, she lived in the upstairs bedroom at our previous home, taking care of Anna who also had a bedroom upstairs.

Then came the move. We were 95% moved and unpacked in 8 days. My mom is an organizer and her persistence got the job done fast and got us back to a peaceful state of being in a tremendous hurry.

For 6 months, my mom gave and gave and gave. She watched Anna every time Jo went to the doctor, she took Anna with her to Minnesota when we went to the NIH, she got Anna on an awesome schedule and I never once heard her complain about anything we needed her to do. Mother Theresa would have been proud!

In 6 months, my mom and I may have spent more time together than we did in the past 20 years. It was sad to see her go this morning, but the Minnesota summer awaits and if you have never been to the lakes of Minnesota during the summer, you have really missed out.

Thanks for everything mom! I love you.

57,000 Platelets!!!

On Thursday, Jo's platelet count was 41,000 and I must say I was getting a little tired of hearing 40,000 or 41,000 every time Jo had her blood checked. Then on Friday, the counts came in at 57,000. Now, that's progress!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everybody! Jo's platelets have dropped a little, but they are holding steady around 40,000. When they hit 50,000, we had just spent two days in Colorado Springs which is higher in altitude than Denver. Apparently, blood production is enhanced in thinner air.

Jo had red cell transfusions last Thursday, but she has still only had a single platelet transfusion since we came home from the NIH at the end of February. Our next trip to the NIH is rapidly approaching for Jo's 3 month checkup on May 23rd.

Anna Update - 2 teeth and almost crawling. I did see her go from a laying position back up to sitting for the first time today. Supposedly, her Meema taught her to do that earlier this week, but I got the feeling today that she was inspired by my coaching.

50,000 Platelets!!! Deal...or No Deal?

We have been expecting a big jump in Jo's counts and today we finally got it! Dr. Alvarez has had one other Aplastic Anemia patient and based on his experience, we had been hoping for this day to come. Jo had actually dropped to 30,000 last Friday and her red cells were low enough that she had to negotiate her way out of getting a transfusion. In the words of Howie Mandel, "Jo Thompson, you made a great deal!"

As for Jo's MRI, we don't have much news. Everything is about the same as it was before Christmas.