Day +14 - April 8, 2006

Well we are 2 weeks out and still no sign of engraphment. However, Jack likes to keep us on our toes. I wish I could say it was an uneventful morning but I can't. I was awoken this morning by Jack making the sound of what seemed to be hiccups but THANKFULLY I was laying right next to him when I sat up to get him something to drink and he was having a seizure. It was the scariest thing that has yet to happen in his 3 1/2 years of hospital stays. I immediately called for the nurse who came in with 3 or 4 nurses and they went right to work. The whole seizure lasted approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Once he came out of the seizure he was left with a slight palsy on the right side of his face and right arm. Shortly thereafter we were taken for a CT scan and then for an MRI/MRV to see if he had another stroke. During this time Roy was on his way down from Fairfield. Once the scans were all finished we were then moved to the PICU. At this time, Jack is stable and has recovered from the seizure with no side effects. The minor palsy has also gone away. They had to used a lot of sedation for the MRI/MRV so he's not totally himself but he sure is trying. The doctors feel that he should be monitored for the next 24 hours and hopefully we'll be moved back into our room on the transplant floor. Turns out that Jack's stroke doctor aka the "squash" doctor, Dr. Ichord was the attending physician on call for nueology and she was able to read the results of the scan right away. She entered our room and said "NO STROKE AND NO CLOTS", what a relief. They believe that with all the stress (so to speak) on the veins from hydration, dehydration and the fact that he is running low platelets (typical of transplant patients) may have caused a small vein to tear causing some bleeding on the brain resulting in a seizure. Jack has some new fragile veins in his brain from the stroke last year which probably just can't handle the ups and downs of all of this. Obviously to no fault of anyone and that the doctors have been very diligent with trying to regulate his fluid input and output he is just a very different patient and not of the typical which requires a little more attention. Thankfully Jack has these tendencies to give us a major scare but also makes everyone aware of the fragility of his issues. All the more reason that once he shows engraphment and we know if the transplant has been a success, that we made the right decision for doing all of this. Jack is never one for doing the typical side effects, he has done so well thus far. He threw us a curve ball. Please continue to keep Jack in your prayers and well as praying for the donor's cells to start engraphing and making Jack a stronger, healthier Jack.