A couple updates:

Well we decorated the house for Christmas, a little earlier than I have done it in the past, but we figured since we haven't decorated for the past two years. It was so much fun and Caleb loves all the decorations. He helped/played with the decorations as I was decorating. It was nice to put his 'hospital Christmas tree' in his bedroom this year! Hopefully it will stay there! I am praying we can keep him out of the hospital this Christmas! Here are a couple pictures...sorry they may not be the best quality as I took them with my cell phone.

It is hard to believe that it was almost a year ago that Caleb finally came back to Children's Hospital after we were at Duke hospital for 7 months. WOW. I actually came across some pictures/videos from my old cell phone yesterday....and wow what a mixture of emotions on memories. I honestly don't want to go into it too much, because it is honestly too hard, but I think there was a time when we weren't aware of how sick he looked when we were waiting for the initial Immune tests/diagnosis to come back. I hope and pray that we can have more happy and healthy memories ! We continue to pray that this tetanus shot will spark his immune system and it starts working. A lot of people have been emailing me asking me when we will know if this shot worked. Well...you have to wait at least a month after the shot is given to draw the labs.

Then is usually takes 3-4 weeks for the lab results to come back. So...a long two months. Caleb's doctors have been awesome emailing and

calling us telling us to keep our chins up. They have been so wonderful to our family.

Also, for those of you who know my cooking abilities ...I am going to try to cook Thanksgiving Dinner. Hopefully we can keep Caleb out of the hospital for this Thanksgiving. If we can, this will be Caleb's first Thanksgiving at home! So what a celebration! So even though we are shut-ins, and live in our little 'bubble' to protect our little man. This is such an exciting time. Appreciate the small things! Be thankful, be Blessed!

Also, thank you to all of those who emailed and called when we got the results back earlier this week and we were a little down. You all are so awesome to us and we are so grateful. God Bless you all.

God Bless Caleb!!

Have had Better Days

Well...Caleb's bloodwork results came back today to check his response to the second Tetanus shot to see if his immune system is working. Unfortunately, there was a low response. Brian and I are both upset and feel like the wind has been taken out of our sails. I honestly think this is one of the 'lower' days we have had in awhile! So needless to say it has been a very emotional day.
I was able to ask Dr. Markert a couple questions today: 1. What next? and 2. Do we need to start worrying that Caleb's immune system might not ever respond?
First, there has been enough of a time lapse per the transplant protocol that Caleb can get another Tetanus shot. So thanks to Ellen (Caleb's AI fellow in Pittsburgh) who got the shot ready, my Dad (who picked up the shot in Pittsburgh and brought it to our house), and Angeline (Caleb's nurse who stayed over to administer it); Caleb got his 3rd Tetanus shot today. Thank you all for making that happen on such short notice. So hopefully the third time is a charm. Second, she is optimistic that since he was able to get off his IV nutrition that maybe that means his immune system is trying to work-but she cannot provide any guarantees. She also said she is not any more worried about his lack of response, however she says she will always worry, as she does with all her kids, until there is a response.

So please I am asking everyone to pray hard for Caleb and his Immune System and that he does get a response and that his Immune System starts working!

God Bless Caleb!!