Day + 39 Great Doc. Appt.

I had a great Mesa clinic appointment at Banner Children's with Doctor Katsanis today. Did you know, Dr. K drives up from Tucson once or twice a month to visit all his Greater Phoenix Area patients, how nice is that?! Good thing he actually drives a Tesla (thanks Elon Musk) to get him back and forth without paying for gas! Nice. 

My labs are UP again! This is so crazy, my hemoglobin went up from 9.6 to 10.2!!! I'm literally making my own red blood cells for the first time in 20 years, pinch me. Last week my retic was 13.3 and it was 18 something today - WHAT?! Go Maddy's cells go. My retic has been m.i.a and to have it be so high on it's own, there are no words. My parents are so used to it being zero ... they get so happy/emotional seeing it so high. My platelets were even higher at 63, they are the last cells to appear after a bone marrow transplant, and they are so important. Our family didn't realize exactly how needed they are simply to be alive, until I desperately needed them. I needed them everyday for almost 2 weeks when I had ZERO counts after the radiation and chemotherapy. 

Since I had such a good doctor appointment, we canceled my Thursday clinic visit and I'll just be going once a week now. This is SO weird. But so cool at the same time, and I haven't needed a blood transfusion since April 1st. How ironic that last year on April 1st, I had  a TRALI (transfusion related acute lung injury)  and almost died. April first is no joke to me, haha.

There are still a few shirts left from my Mia's Making Marrow Campaign with the proceeds going to Doctor Katasnis' Steele Children's Research. If you would like to just make a donation to him, please feel free, but make sure you say FOR: pediatric hem / oncology division. I would be so thankful!!! Nothing would make me happier than helping Dr. K. receive money to help in research with his lab and curing kids via Haploidentical Transplants. He cured me after 20 years of living off of others peoples blood, how could I ever thank him enough?! 

Doc Appt.

Mia went to see what her hemoglobin is the day after our

time at the beach. It's fitting we had this awesome beachy room!

Doctor's Office

Someone is NOT feeling good, and hasn't for a while.

Mia has missed almost a week of school and 

it's almost the end of her 7th grade year.

Hang in there Mia!

She definitely has not been her usual self.

Doctor Appt.

This was kind of a big doctor appointment with our new Endocrinologist. Who is fabulous by the way and the doctor loves Stars Wars. So it was fitting that Dad came along...

Mia checking out the light saber in the glass case. Pretty legit. 

Doctor Appointment

You know it's Christmas when The Polar Express is playing in the doctor office! We love this movie!! Sure helps to take your mind off all the pokes. 

Toy Delivery

Look at these sweet girls...ready to deliver Mia's request (in lieu of gifts for her birthday, donate toys to the hospital toy closet) for the children at Cardon Children's Medical Center. There were so many toys donated...thank you SO much!! We hope it brings smiles to children going through rough times. 

We happened to see Molly the Therapy dog, back from her summer vacation. We love her...she's so sweet and loves visiting people in the hospital. We ruff you Molly!!

Never Ending Doctor Appointments

If Mia is not getting labs done, then she's getting other medical stuff done. At least she does it all with a smile!! Mia has other health issues besides the life threatening Anemia...so it's a constant balance with it all. Thank goodness for awesome doctors who take care of all these chronic kiddos who need their expertise. If you think of Mia, please pray for her growth and that her growth plates will still allow her some time to grow. Thank you!