Out of the Hospital: Latest on Beth

As we've learned bone marrow transplant is a series of steps forward and back with the hope that the overall direction is forward. True to form this week has been two big steps forward and one small step back.  Here's the latest on my bride:

2 Steps Forward:
#1-Yesterday after 5 weeks, Beth was released from the hospital!  We are thrilled to be back in our "home away from home".  We are giving her 2 IV medications at home. A home care nurse just trained me to give her these 2 drugs in our apartment.  Good to be out of the hospital :)
#2-The latest PET scan showed that ALL of the EB virus nodes in Beth's body are significantly smaller.  The doctors are very encouraged to see that Beth is responding to the treatments.

1 Small Step Back:
The EBV PET scan showed that Beth has a bit of pneumonia in her upper right lung.  She shows no symptoms (no cough, no fever, no sounds that the doctors can hear), but it is there.  She always has some infection in her throat area.  We're on some powerful antibiotics, and the doctors believe these infections should be gone relatively soon.

Finally, we got the 'OK' to bring the boys up to NYC!!  Since we just got out of the hospital, we're going to take a week or so to get rested, get stronger, and get ready for Eyasu and Abreham. Beth has not seen the boys in person since the first of December and she is ready! Last night we Skyped with them -- Abreham said, "I love you" and "Ma-Ma"!!

Prayer Requests:

• For the pneumonia to go away quickly.


• For Beth's T-cells to increase (the T-Cell level is what determines the restrictions we have to follow such as being close to the hospital, avoiding crowds & enclosed spaces, and a low microbial diet).  As Beth's T-cells increase, they will be easily able to kill off the EB virus.


• For two transplant friends we met, Kevin (age 19) and Karl (age 14), as they recover from their transplants.


• Soli deo gloria!!