Smile to smile

These last ten days had several twists and turns but worked out for the most part.  Annie had a spat of bloody noses that caused her to leave events midstream.  It became clear she wouldn't be able to attend her class trip to Astrocamp.  While it was a tough decision for her, she bounced back and we had a memorable day at The Getty museum.  The next day Tom took her to Disneyland.  She and Katherine set up a tent in her room and had a sleepover to round out Familycamp.

Yesterday was her last day of school and it was filled with parties and good cheer.  The sign above is from the door to her English classroom.  The smiles of yesterday turned into fixing her smile today at the dentist.  She had one baby tooth that was going to create problems if not removed.  So she started the day with a platelet transfusion then to the dentist then back to the hospital for a doctor's appointment.  We've determined that her new donor is also international.  The stem cells aren't scheduled to arrive until after midnight a week from next Monday.  It is interesting to think that across the world there is a 30-year-old man willing to share his stem cells with someone he doesn't know.  After two years, if both parties are willing, we'll be able to contact him.

Annie is about to have a pre-bedtime snack as she can't eat again until tomorrow afternoon.  Her surgery to insert a Hickman is tomorrow at 9.  She'll get to the hospital at 7:30 for platelets again.  The procedure is described in my 3/13/12 post.  Will write again when she's out of recovery.  We are grateful for all the prayers and warm wishes, it is impossible to be sad with so much love and support!