Max has been home now for almost ten days (24 days post transplant) and he's doing great! You'd never he know in a million years that he had some crazy amounts of chemo and a stem cell transplant if you saw him.
He's officially under "house arrest" as I call it. But, better here than in a small hospital room. His isolation period will last until the end of June, possibly end of July, but he's doing so well that we're banking on the June date. Until then he's not permitted to go outside (although we do let him into the backyard for a little while each day with a mask on), and absolutely no visitors - especially kids, which is breaking his heart because the kid needs to see his friends! The no-outside-rule is due to airborne fungus and molds that he could inhale and become sick from. The no visitor rule is to keep the germs and bacteria he's exposed to to a minimum (again, fine with me, because I certainly don't want Max back in the hospital and I don't want to sleep in that chair again!)
He's doing quite well just hanging in the house and keeping busy with his plethera of toys and DVDs. Every once now and then he gets a little grumpy because he wants to go to the train museum or a park or the beach, but he seems to understand when I remind him that he could be stuck in a hospital room instead of being home. Such a trooper!
Max is taking only one oral medication each day... and he hates it. So you can imagine how fun it is for mommy to force it down his throat each morning. He is only going to the clinic once a week to have his blood counts done and get an IVIG (an immune-antibody something or other infusion).
Max's red blood and platelet counts have stayed up since he engrafted, although last weekend we had to give him two shots to boost his white cell count.
Again, your thoughts, prayers, positive vibes -- whatever you're sending his way -- is working and we thank you!