We've had a weird week... Mac's been nauseous and not wanting to eat or drink much, which throws all his labs off! So now we have a 'take home IV kit'. He gets fluids 8 hours a day just to keep him hydrated and it has helped him quite a bit. He can carry them in a backpack, so we can continue our daily routine while he has his "drink"! His kidneys seemed happier at the end of the week once the fluids had been started. We're waiting to see if this passes. He also had a bone marrow aspiration on Wednesday to compare it to the one he had on July 16. Some things were better and some things were the same. It wasn't super encouraging... but Dr. Reiss is not ready to commit to a bone marrow transplant yet. On that front, a donor has been identified and contacted and is ready when we need him or her. So that's good. A bone marrow transplant would involve 4-8 weeks in the hospital, a minimum of 100 days in Memphis, and 1 year out of school. He would get chemo and ATG (will it be rabbit or horse?!) to prepare him for the transplant. That would last about 10 days. Then he would get the bone marrow through an IV, where it will work its way to his bones. After that there's a lot of waiting and watching. This is just an overview. I'll give you more details if we get there.

On a similar note, I just want to personally thank everyone who has signed up to be a Bone Marrow Donor. I keep thinking about the stranger out there that matches Mac and is ready to save his life! That could be you one day, and I hope you think about our "11 year old male" when you say Yes!

We are excited to have Peter and Annie and some of Mac's friends come see us during the holiday. We have more fun at the Target House when we have visitors! There is even talk of snow flurries - how exciting! I know the top 3 things on my Christmas list are white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets for Mac! (Oh, and cheek bones makes 4!) Hope you take time out of your busy schedules to be thankful for the healthy children in your life. (I stole that line from the St. Jude commercials.) Thanks for checking in and praying for us!