T+161

160 days since transplant day!!!! How has that happened?!!?! I am very sorry it has been so long since I have last provided an update. It wasn’t my intention to leave things so long, but being at home is just total brilliant chaos!!

After coming home everything was nice and settled for the first week. We went back to Newcastle for a check up and again they were happy with him. He was booked in to have his apheresis line taken out on the Friday of the following week. However, the line was not causing any problems and Seth was still requiring blood tests regularly. Also although his need for blood and platelet transfusions had reduced we were still not confident he would not start dropping again. So, the decision was made to postpone the operation to have the line out for a bit longer just to be sure….

However, on the Monday of the very next week his line was accessed for blood tests and shortly after Seth approached his dad with his t-shirt up saying “my line is leaking”. He was totally unfazed by the blood coming out of his line and going everywhere. Upon inspection the line had split near the top where it entered Seth’s body. We knew that this would be unrepairable so prepared ourselves for a trip to Newcastle to have it out.

First stop though is always the local hospital so that they can do initial checks and liaise with Seth’s consultant in Newcastle with regards to a plan. Also he was put on antibiotics immediately in case an infection had got into the line through the break. 24 hours later we were back on the road to Newcastle. The next day the line was taken out and luckily because Seth had not had a temperature he was able to return home the next afternoon. For the first time in a long time we had a fairly straight forward trip to a hospital, no unexpected long-term stays. BRILLIANT!!!

back in newcastle waiting for the op

school work !

the line- the blue clamp next to his skin is stopping the line from bleeding.

ready for the op!

All gone!!!

Being at home is fantastic for all of us. However, Seth is now more of an energetic, curious 5-year-old than he ever has been. He wants new challenges and new experiences like any young child, which can sometimes be difficult when he still has to remain isolated from other children and busy places. We have been pursuing home schooling via the school he is registered with and whilst waiting for that I have been trying to home school him so that he does not fall behind his peers. I think he will have enough to deal with socially when he finally goes to school so we like to try to reduce any other sources of stress for him.

Learning numbers playing Bingo

making bread

fine motor skills practice poking pipe cleaners through a sieve

learning about dinosaurs

collecting leaves , learning about autumn

  

making trees with a straw and water paints

Health wise he has been great. No illnesses or temperatures so far. So we are really pleased with that! Immunology wise we are still waiting for confirmation as to whether or not the Thymus is working. It is quite a source of stress for me at the moment. My understanding is that there is no definitive way to confirm whether or not anyone has a functioning Thymus, you just have to wait for ‘educated’ T cells to appear. This can be monitored via 3 things – which I cannot now remember the specifics. However, one is increased T cell numbers. This last week Seth’s T cell numbers have doubled – but this can happen also if he has in infection that he is fighting – then the uneducated T cells would multiply. Also there is a marker in the blood that is monitored in percentage – this has decreased significantly over the past few weeks which does indicate a working thymus, but again it is not conclusive at this time. The third way is by detecting the educated T cells in the blood. At present there is very little evidence to suggest educated T cells. So we continue to wait. Seth having GVHD for so long prior to this transplant may simply delay the Thymus sending out new educated T cells. Or there may be irreparable damage. Wait and See – rubbish!

He has managed to get rid of Rhinovirus which is promising. He is still positive for Adeno virus but is keeping it low level, so again that is positive. His skin is fantastic! Really clear. We have managed to be able to reduce the steroids right down again and we have not seen the GVHD rash in a few weeks!

As a parent in this situation you have to manage your own emotions and stresses, trying to stay realistic and not to allow optimism to overcome you. With Seth being better in himself than he has ever been it is difficult to prevent myself from getting too comfortable, forgetting that this is not over yet. Also you find yourself trying to manage other people’s expectations as well. Everyone historically knows Seth as a child with physical struggles because of his health. They knew him as a child that did not run about, lacked confidence and tired easily. Now they see this normal (albeit small) 5-year-old energetic cheeky boy running around, so its difficult for us to highlight that we still do not know if he will be ok.

When we arrived in Newcastle in January this year, Hugo was only just 3 months old……he turns 1 in 3 days!!! What a year!