Success of the "Abby Treatment"

Engraftment is when the blood-forming cells received on stem cell transplant day start to grow and make healthy blood cells. It’s an important milestone in transplant recovery.

As of today, Ollie's had: 

- Multiple days of various blood counts increasing with a White Blood Cell count of 1.59 today;

- Three days of neutrophils being consistently higher than 0.5, so he is no longer neutropenic and has begun to be able to fight infections with his new immune system; and

- Platelets have started to rise on their own so they no longer need to give him transfusions.

So...he's officially engrafted and his "Abby treatment" (as my brilliant friend and author, Vanessa calls it) has worked (so far, as to be clear there are still many milestones to come)!!!

We've all been pretty moved the last few days to say the least. Abby was so excited and told me she knew she was supposed to save him from the start. There's something in my eye...and in my throat. 

Saturday they started the process to get him moved out of isolation. Ollie had a really emotional day, crying a lot at the littlest things. He's like his mama...gets through the hardest things and crises and once he's on the other side of it and can relax a little, he falls apart.  Poor Daddy was spending the afternoon and night with Ollie on Saturday, so much of the emotion was his to manage. 

They got off to a rough start when Mario voiced his concern that they wanted to move him too soon and Ollie got mad saying that Daddy didn't want him to get home earlier and didn't believe he was getting well. Mario's insistence that it was the contrary and he's just being cautious fell on deaf ears. Although Mario reminded me he wasn't the one who was good with emotions, they made it through a hard day together.

Yesterday they moved Ollie back into one of the 5 regular hospital rooms on the Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Unit. He was pretty psyched to be moving, but once we did he was overwhelmed again. We spent a lot of time snuggling and trying to calm him. Nothing like mama hugs when you're feeling big feelings you can't control.

One great distraction was his Nintendo Switch. Remember when Abby and her friends raised money to buy the Switch for him at the beginning of this journey?! It feels like a lifetime ago.

He hasn't done much with the Switch since he went blind. We did a bit of research in June and found that certain games could be played by visually impaired and blind people. So we dragged it to Toronto just in case, but it's the first time he asked to try it. Daddy got him going on Super Mario Kart Deluxe 8.

Mommy found a reference online to a game called 1-2 Switch that a woman and her blind husband had a blast with, so we downloaded it yesterday and goofed around with it all afternoon! It was just what the doctor ordered! 

He can play almost all of the 28 mini games that come with it, as they're all very active virtual reality type games (like Quick Draw where you pretend you're in a wild west gun fight or Boxing which is obvious or Baseball where one person pitches and the other swings at the ball). Needless to say he was thrilled and kept saying how awesome it was that blind people like him can still play Nintendo Switch! He didn't even mind that much when Mommy won sometimes!

So dear friends of Abby who worked so hard to raise money to buy him his precious Switch, know that he is more appreciative now of your generous gift than even at the beginning. It makes him feel like a normal, cancer-free kid (which is what he is now!).

I think Air Guitar is his ultimate favourite 1-2 Switch game so far.

Ollie's body is still struggling with nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, although less so than before. Doctors say it should all resolve itself in a few days once the antibiotics are out of his system. He's also experiencing some muscle spasms, but his water retention and swelling have gone down. It's the first time in months that his ankles and legs haven't been swollen!

Abby and Ollie have been sad about not seeing each other in over a month and given Abby will be going back to Ottawa before Ollie is likely out of the hospital, they're having a hard time with the idea that it might be a total of three months of separation before we are all together again. So I have asked the Pediatric Advanced Care Team for special permission for Abby to visit her brother in hospital before she leaves for school and they have indicated that this should be possible. Like I tell the kids if you don't ask, you don't get what you need.

On the phone with Ollie the other day when he was so sad and missing her, she had tears in her eyes as she made him promise that he'd be happy because her cells were working for him and everything they'd both been through was worth it. 

Honestly when I think about everything that's happened to our family in the last ten months, it feels surreal. We were a close knit family before, but cancer and our strengthening faith that God would help us through and save our Ollie have cemented our commitment to and gratitude for each other. 

We believe that God brought Mario and I together...two headstrong, independent, resilient people to build a family. Then He sent us both a selfless and determined daughter and a courageous and tenacious son...one to ultimately save the other...and in doing so He has blessed us beyond our wildest dreams. He gave us science and brilliant doctors and nurses to help us get our son well. He has provided us with an army of people to care for and love us through all of this.

In my most desperate moments over the past year I have begged and bargained with God that if He would save my son, I would tell our story and show everyone His goodness. That I would truly be an evangelist and dedicate my life to making the world a better place and sharing His love with others. 

For those of you who may not be believers, fear not! I won't try to convert you. I think our story is speaking for itself. The things that we have overcome are too big and difficult for us not to have had Divine intervention along the way. A prayer chain around the world for Ollie with loving people of so many different faiths participating...I believe it has made a miracle happen for our family.

Our journey is far from over, but we are on the path to physical wellness and emotional healing. Stick with us because the story is not yet done. There are no guarantees in all of this, but today our son is saved and we are celebrating.