This afternoon Cutler and I went to see the doctor and everything is looking great.  The bone marrow is completely clean and the current blood work looks great.  The doctor did mention that since there is a lone white cell in his spinal fluid that we will continue with chemo spinal taps every three months for a year after the transplant is safe.  He did say that any white cell count in the spinal fluid less than 5 is considered clean and that with the bone marrow looking so good he isn’t terribly concerned, but would like to error on the side of caution.

As for the transplant, we will be checking back into the hospital on Monday.  Tuesday we start the first day of chemo that will run for eight days followed by a day of rest and then on Thursday, December 3rd the stem cell infusion will be performed.  It’s funny, when we all started this I was expecting the transplant to be a big surgery, but as it turns out it is about a 30 minute infusion via the IV.  The stem cells know where to go and attach themselves to the bone and form bone marrow if they like the way things look.  Pretty amazing stuff.  Dr Goldman said that the shortest time anyone has required for going home is about 26 days, so there is a small chance that Cutler will be home in time to celebrate New Year’s with us, but we aren’t counting on it.  More than likely he should be home by mid January if all goes well.  It’s going to make for a tough Christmas, but it will be toughest on us.  Definitely something we can hold against Cutler as he gets older.

As for right now, Cutler is doing extremely well.  His cough is still around, but not nearly as persistent as before and his vomiting is reduced to spit ups which are pretty much due to the congestion.  The doctor did listen to the lungs and look in his ears and everything looks great so for now the congestion is limited to his nasal passages.   A huge sigh of relief.  I am happy to say, for Melanie’s sake, that Cutler slept through the night last night.  Unfortunately it wasn’t my turn to stay watch so Melanie got the full benefits before slipping away to Atlanta for a night.  We will see how tonight goes, my fingers are crossed.

Below is a video of Cutler from tonight in his favorite toy, the exesaucer.  He is so healthy and full of life.  Will cherish this time over the next week as it will probably be another two months before he will feel this good again.