Another great day today!  It is incredible how far Johnny has come in the past 40 days, he's surprised everyone with his strength and determination to get past this chapter of his life.  And Joey is HOME (or at least with us at the hospital).  The boys are so happy to be together again.

His counts are all going up -- ANC jumped from 340 yesterday to 490 today (and he's not on GCSF anymore).  Everyone is pleased with his progress.  Since he's off all things 'tube related' during the day, we've been keeping the ground hot.  It's interesting when we go to the 'food court' and see doctors who treated him in the beginning,  the surprised looks on their faces when they see Johnny up and around, makes me think they are surprised he's still here.  

I talked to the bone marrow transplant (BMT) coordinator today to find out if there are any new developments.  Currently, there are 2 people who are 10 for 10 matches with 4 more who are either getting tested or are waiting on the results.  We should know the final results late next week. 

I asked if donors have ever backed out at the last minute -- luckily, the answer is "No". By the time the donor has done the blood work, they are committed to go through the entire process. The BMT team will coordinate with Johnny's regular doctor (Dryer) and possibly Dr. Horton who is the trial doc, when Johnny will be ready for transplant.  An interesting tidbit of information is most kids don't go through every cycle of their protocol (Johnny is at the end of cycle 1, with 2 more to go).  My guess is that will most likely depend on his bone marrow aspiration results next week.  

Tomorrow: CT of lungs, gut and sinuses. These images will determine how long he will have to stay on his meds and what meds, if any, we can discontinue.  MAYBE we will find out the results of the CT by tomorrow night!  Thursday at the latest! I'll keep you posted either way.