So close we could taste it

We were packed up to go home today when Mina Brigitta spiked a low-grade fever. She hung out around 100 most of the afternoon, briefly spiking up to 100.8. That was enough for them to keep us here overnight for observation, but not to start another round of antibiotics. That's good because we really want her liver and kidneys to have a couple of weeks to recover before beginning BMT conditioning. However, they wanted to keep her close because if she spiked higher they'd want to start antibiotics immediately. Keri was fit to be tied, and I was none too happy myself, but in the grand scheme it's probably better to be safe than sorry. They promised to let us go first thing in the morning if no more fevers. Her temperature is way back down as of midnight, so Keri's planning on picking me up at 6:30 AM. It'll be good to get out of there before they have time to change their minds!

Thanks to everyone who wrote about the sterility issue. It's definitely comforting to know there may be alternatives for her, but it's still a tough thing to think about doing to your 22-month old daughter. And of course, I'd be extremely thankful just to have the opportunity to talk to her about this in 20 years.

Also, thanks much to everyone who has asked about being typed for a bone marrow match. Here's the issue: apparently the odds of anyone we know being a match, even close relatives like cousins, aunts or uncles, are too small to justify the effort and the expense. Unfortunately, you'd have to pay for the tests yourselves, and they're not cheap. There's also the issue of timing; she either needs to get a transplant in the next few weeks, or else she needs to have another round of chemo, with another set of risks and side effects, to keep her in remission. So we basically need to have a donor by next week. All that said, if anyone wants to pay for the tests themselves and can do it right away, contact me and I'll find out where to have the info sent to see if it's a match for Mina Brigitta. That way, at the very least, your typing info would be on the registry, and who knows, maybe it would be a match for another little girl like Mina Brigitta. Here's the link to find out more info about how to become a donor:

http://www.marrow.org/HELP/join_the_registry.html