Our winning Power Ball numbers are... drum roll pleeeeease! 17, 23 and 25! Of March that is.
Yes, our BMT team doctors have negotiated a date with the donor and Bella's bone marrow donor has agreed to have the drawing of her bone marrow procedure on March 23rd.
Thinking back a couple months when this donor search just began mid December 2014, it's so overwhelming to finally have a confirmed date for Bella's start to a new working immune system.
So, the donor is going to go through a second string of rigorous tests to confirm that this procedure will not pose a risk to themselves and have further checks done to make sure there is absolutely nothing about them that may pose a risk to Bella. These second set of tests should be done by the second week of March. Our BMT docs are very confident things will continue to go smoothly for the donor, seeing as her first set of baseline tests look great.
Bella's chemo (conditioning) will begin on March 17th. This means the donor will have their major meeting the week prior where a physician and psychiatrist will (in their own words) tell the donor there is no turning back at this point, the patient (Bella) starts her chemo on the 17th.
I'm going to be sure to take another picture of Bella's beautiful locks on March 16th before her chemo starts. Her hair is growing in so beautifully. This is the current immune supresent meds doing this and fixing her skin. So she has baby soft skin and beautiful blonde hair growing.
The chemo conditioning Bella will be going through is "Low Dose Chemo." They have told us kids have tolerated this very well and in some cases, don't lose all their hair.
We have a meeting tomorrow with our BMT team to discuss Bella's whole course of meds and chemo meds. So we will find out more information about the spectrum of what to expect during Bella's 8 days of chemo prior to transplant.
Day ZERO will be March 25th, 2015.
So, the donor will have their marrow drawn on the 23rd, it gets processed and shipped and is ready for them to transfuse the donor cells into to Bella via her IV line on the 25th!
That will be the big big day! And we pray all goes well, no rejection, no complications.
The doctors have a few weeks now to get the rest of Bella's pre BMT workup done. She has kidney testing left. As well as ultrasounds, ECGs, and a CT Scan.
Today Bella made sure to wear her Pink in support of Anti-Bullying Day.
I recently joined a wonderful supportive group on Facebook where I can connect with other parents that have children who have fought or are fighting SCID from around the world. It's called "SCID Angels for Life Foundation." A wonderful mom from the group made these awareness pics for Rare Disease Day for each child. I started a hashtag for Bella. #Bellabrave.
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