Beanie's Blog: Celebrating family, not just the bad stuff....

"You should write about this weekend, people want to hear happy stuff, not just the doom and gloom."
"You know, you're right, I will!"

Then the phone rings....

This past weekend we went to my brother's house, where my whole family gathered for one last celebration. With Justin's birthday on Saturday, mine on Wednesday and John's at the beginning of March, it seemed like a great excuse to get together. With the underlying understanding that it was to celebrate Selene, family, and happiness.

We ate lots of delicious food, the children played, we talked, laughed, played games, took lots of amazing pictures and had the family stylist come to the house for a day of haircuts. We had the best time. There is so much love and generosity in our family that it's overwhelming. I couldn't be luckier if I had picked them myself!

Then we had a fabulous day today with Daddy home. We went to the mall to play a little then had lunch at an Indian buffet, where Ainsley seemed to be out eating Dan and Beanie spilled her rice all over the floor. Then after some naps and chores we ended with a lovely dinner at Nana and Grandad's to celebrate my 32nd (not 33rd, thanks for aging me Grandad) birthday.

And then of course even when things are going well we get thrown a curve ball. Our hematologist called tonight and I wasn't concerned after her first message since we have testing tomorrow, I assumed she was just checking in. But after her second call I got nervous (and how did I keep missing her call!?). She said in reviewing the CT Scan results they noticed that 4 of her thoracic vertebrae were compressed. This is apparently the type of thing you see in adult women with osteoporosis or after a traumatic injury like falling from a horse. There is nothing I can think of that would have caused a compression fracture. Especially since they said this happened a long time ago as it is long healed.

Now we have to be seen in their bone clinic to investigate her bone health. I'm not sure if it will happen prior to next Thursday or if they can do it one of the first days she is admitted. There are minor concerns over some of the medications and steroids she'll be on during transplant, possibly having an effect on bone density, etc. I also don't know if she'll have long term effects from the fracture (yet, again the specialists will all have more answers after seeing her). So, it seems to always be one more thing. I am going to hold out hope that this is an anomaly or that someone in my family dropped her when she was a baby and there's a good explanation. With treatments for bone health I'm not going to add this to the worry list until I have to.

Just 9 days left at home. Trying to prepare the girls' understanding of what's going to happen over the next few weeks and make the most of it!

-Update: After our hematologist researched and the BMT specialist contacted some colleagues they confirmed that low bone density is a side effect of Neutropenia, which ultimately makes sense since bone marrow function/bone health are all related. So we'll have lots of appointments now with the bone clinic but they aren't worried, so neither am I.