What a trip!

So, we made it! In early August we went to Cincinnati for Nathanael's 9-month-post-transplant check-up. His doctor was thrilled with his progress, his blood counts looked great, his skin looked clear, and all his virus tests were negative again. They did warn us again about the dangers of sun exposure, so I really need to start using sunscreen even for car rides, and even when I plan to keep Nathanael completely shaded or covered. Any sun exposure at all (for now, at least) puts him at risk for Graft vs. Host disease (GVHD), which can lead to all sorts of problems. Even for years to come, long after his immune system is working and he's out playing with other kids, we will still need to be diligent about protection from the sun, but really, all little kids need to be protected from sunburn to reduce their chances of developing skin cancer later in life (yes...this is a public service announcement...), so it's really just a matter of making it a priority all the time.

We enjoyed our stay with a friend, spent some time swimming in her pool, and then spent the weekend with my family for Jeff and Julie's wedding. It was great to see my parents, my brothers and their wives, and my cousins...I was just sad that we needed to keep Jamison away from everyone too. Of course, I knew Nathanael would need to stay in the hotel room, but I wished that Jamison could have been out playing with his cousins.

Our drive up took over 19 hours, and we found that driving overnight was not as good an idea as it had sounded when we discussed it. In fact, both boys were awake from 1am to 5am, which made for a much less peaceful time (and less sleep for me) than we had anticipated.

Our drive home took 23.5 hours (UGH!) and included several phone calls to the on-call doctors at both of our hospitals, as Nathanael developed a cough (and some gagging) that concerned us, AND included a punctured tire at 1am in rural northeast Arkansas (Prarie County, to be exact). We were just so thankful to finally get home, as I did NOT want to take him into a hospital where we didn't know how things worked. I get nervous enough when someone I KNOW has to access his central line, let alone someone I've never met! God provided for us in lots of ways, and gave us a few interesting stories that have already made their way into some of Brad's messages... ;)

So this is only a fraction of what I had wanted to post when we first arrived home, but a lot has happened since then...so I'll write more later. Thanks for checking on us, and for keeping us in prayer!