Wait - BMT +48

Mondays are a little bit heady around here. Suddenly the whole team is back in place, after a skeleton-crew weekend. Questions are asked, and ideas are floated. 

After a lot of questions and a few tears (those were mine, I just had a teeny meltdown), we decided to go ahead with tomorrow's procedure to have Sam's line removed. Along with that, they are going to do an upper-GI scope to check and see if there's any graft-vs-host disease in his esophagus and/or stomach. Remember how I said that symptoms of this are vague? We'd rather be safe than sorry, and since they're putting him under anesthesia anyway....it works. Oh, how I hope this gives us some answers. I hate that we don't know. It's almost harder than some of the scary-really-sick days because it just seems so elusive and frustrating. Sigh....

A conversation and exam by Dr. M

I snuck in a pedicure today. Sam barely noticed I was gone and all the nurses admired my sparkly blue toes when I came back. I debated whether or not to tell you all about this part of my day but it was such a delightful highlight that I knew you'd all appreciate it. On my way back, I picked up two new movies for Sam. Sparkly blue and a latte for me, Chipwrecked for Sam....everyone got a pick-me-up today. 

Usually our days in the hospital are filled with walks and games and projects and the like. This lethargy of Sam's is hard - I have very little to do (except worry) in between checking Sam's temperature while he naps. So I've had a lot of time to work on small projects (nothing too brainy, since I'm not feeling very focused this week) and today I came up with this t-shirt design. Remember how I said I want to do something but I just didn't have the wherewithal at the moment? Well, here's a start. A little over $8 from each t-shirt will go to the MACC Fund, the primary supporters of the work being done right here at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. And I think the shirts are quite cute and not too "cancer-y." I've never done anything like this before, so let's hope it works. The campaign is only active for seven days. If we don't hit the required number by then, it's over. (This is like those deal-of-the-day sites.) So feel free to share on your Facebook pages or with your friends. I'm sure they will make lovely Thanksgivukkah gifts. (Check back, I'm working on youth sizes and hoodies!)

The end of the day was a little perkier than the beginning, with a movie (Chipwrecked) and yet another set of blood cultures thanks to yet another fever....This raises a most important question: which is more grating to a mama -- SpongeBob or the Chipmunks? I think it's a toss-up!

Thanks, Rachael, for the cute googly-eye ring!

And that's our story. I may or may not have any answers by tomorrow night but at least we will have done something to see if we can get rid of these fevers....