T minus 9

There are 9 days before Emma gets her bone marrow transplant. They call this day (2/18) day -9. She will have "minus" days until transplant day which is day zero and then we start counting into the positive.

Today she had surgery to replace her port-a-cath to a broviac catheter. This catheter is a triple lumen which means she has three different intakes/outtakes to her body. The port had only one which is not enough for the doctors to push everything through for the transplant. The pros of this type of cath is that they can get so much in, the cons are that it hangs out of the skin which is kind of gicky and makes her more susceptible to getting infection. Also, the catheter is about the circumference of a pen and the doctor described it as "putting in a garden hose."

I was super nervous about the surgery this morning. You know when you tell yourself not to worry, everything will be fine and there's nothing you can do about it anyway... but your body and mind take over and you just panic. The hardest part about this is not letting Emma see me panic. My cousin Angie came to the hospital to be with me. It was a great diversion. She's funny, witty and good for some uplifting conversation. The surgery took about an hour which doesn't seem that long, but is plenty of time to think about too many awful things. Angie and I had cheesecake (always a good thing) and passed the time.

The surgery went fine. She is pretty dopey and watching Cheetah Girls 2 (nightmare). My sister-in-law, Becky, is at my house and Jeff said she's wonderful. She has organized my storage room (Holy Crap - can you all applaud?) and has loved on the babies, of this I'm sure.

I'm so grateful for friends, family and the help, love and support we receive from all. We couldn't do this alone, thus the reason our Heavenly Father blesses us through all of you.

Thank you.

-Lana