Gift of a lifetime...

We arrived home from our stay in the hospital on Monday evening. Keian was so incredibly depressed being in the hospital - we could barely manage to get a smile out of him. The child life department caught us just as we were walking out the door to tell us that the Canuck's were coming to visit the kids and that if we wanted to wait, Keian would have that opportunity. He wanted to go home so much, that he opted to leave then and there. He kept repeating how excited he was to come home, but his mood didn't change all that much. He's back on some steroids, all be it different ones than before - they can cause alot of mood changes. He was very happy to walk in the door and be reminded of how Christmas was coming upon us - he walked over to the tree and said "I love our tree that we decorated and I'm so excited for Christmas"

Yesterday morning when Keian woke up, you could definately tell that he wasn't feeling well. Given the option to go out somewhere, he would say "maybe later" and then ask if we could cuddle. "I love cuddling with you, it's like a nice warm hug!" I had planned on taking him to the grocery store to have him help to pick some food that he might like, as we're trying to help him gained back some weight that he's lost - he's lost 15% of his body weight since diagnosis in July. We chose Walmart, but I could see he wasn't feeling up to walking, so I took a blanket and lined the buggy for him to sit on. It broke my heart - the entire time, he had his head down. After a good night of cuddling, he woke up this morning feeling a bit better. He asked me again what it meant to have a bone marrow transplant and just as I told him before, I explained that his sick blood was in his bone marrow and that Joren loved him so much, that he was going to give him something that he has in his body that will help to fight the sick blood. A couple of months ago, we all got our bone marrow tested to find out if we were a match, as a just incase. This is no longer a "just incase", as Keian will definately require the transplant. There was a 1 in 4 chance that a sibling would be a match for Keian. Joren is our angel - he was a perfect match for his big brother. Joren will not be under any risk in donating to Keian - he will undergo general anaesthetic and get bone marrow extracted - he will be a little sore in his hips for a couple days. There is a 1 in 20,000 chance for there to be a match with an unrelated donor.

For Keian, this will be the be extremely hard on his body with everything that he is required to undergo prior to, during and after this transplant. Joren is Keian's best chance, as having a matched sibling raises his percentage of outcome.

Until this Friday when Keian goes back to receive his triple intrathecal chemo, this is all the information that we have been told.

Last night, Keian wanted to decorate our gingerbread house and today, has already asked if he can start eating it.

Through all our struggle, our family has pulled together and we are stronger than ever - standing hand in hand, refusing to allow cancer to break our hold.

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