Nov 25th - Dec 14th - Cole has been battling VOD (veno occlusive disease) which is a side effect of all the chemo he has received for about a month now. Currently his blood counts are showing that the VOD has greatly reduced, however it has not translated to Cole feeling any better until the last couple of days. His abdominal drain is still in place, however he was able to have his chest tubes removed about a week and a half ago. 

The last 2 days have been encouraging, as Cole has wanted to leave his room (in a wheel chair) to go to the resource room on the floor or to simply pace the hallways. This is the first time in a long time that he has wanted to leave his bed. This is an encouraging sign, however we are clearly not out of the woods yet as he is still retaining abdominal fluids. VOD is a slow disease to cure and we need to continue to be patient with it. We were hoping that we would have Cole out of the hospital before the holidays, but it is now looking like that will not happen. Hopefully he will be past most all of the VOD over the next few weeks. 

We are now at day +42 from his Bone Marrow Transplant. His Oncology Blood Count numbers all look solid and have seen continual improvement. This is very good news! Day +100 is when doctors give your their full assessment and generally allow you to return home. Day +100 falls in mid-February for Cole. 

Thankfully we will be bringing the kids up for the winter break and we will have the entire family together to enjoy the holidays. The kids are hoping for a lot of snow :)

Thank you all for your continued support. It is so very meaningful to our entire family! 

Cole painting a Christmas tree

Cole and Dad selfie

Cole, Mom, Santa and an Elf

Cole in front of the hospital Christmas tree