Cycle 2, Day +1-- Home at last

On day +1 following the infusion of Steven's stem cells, we were discharged.

The doctor came in and said that Steven's blood had been free of anything they could culture for 72 hours, his fever was gone, so he was good to go.

We left the hospital around 7pm and are back at the Target House. Steven is eating a little, rice and chicken broth and not much else, for now the Valentine's Day isn't something that appeals to him.

Steven's third grade class in San Diego all sent him Valentine's Day cards and candy. One of the first things he did when he got home was to go through all the Valentine's day cards he received. He also got cards from his faith formation class at our church in San Diego.

Yesterday while he was getting his stem cells infused, a woman I didn't know came into the room and introduced herself as the fifth grade teacher at St. Dominic's school in Memphis, where the son of a woman we met here in Memphis attends. She had come to bring Steven a card from the fifth graders at the school.

Steven has made three or four Valentine's Day cards, he presented one of them to the nurse who tended to him last night when he wasn't feeling well.

We're glad to be back, and are hoping not to return for a stay in the hospital for the next few days. The next two weeks are when he will be the most susceptible to infection, and with Doug and Sean sick, we will see if we can keep him well while he has no immune system.

Until his white cells come back up, we will be going to the hospital 7 days a week to get an infusion of GCSF, which will help his bone marrow to recover more quickly. We'll also be watching him very closely for any fever.

We're praying we can keep him well through this next period.

- Kathleen