29 Days...

We have been in the box for 29 days now and hope to be over half way towards our goal. Sebastian is having diarrhea from the antibiotics he is on (which is normal), but other than that he is getting along fine. His immune system has continued to decline. This makes him more vulnerable to infections, so we are happy that he is doing well and that the doctors are not concerned at this point. We have our fingers crossed that in the next week his immune system counts will begin to rise. He should also be having a bone marrow aspiration test in the next week or two to see where he stands with the number of corrected ADA gene cells. Nervous is a good way to describe how we feel at this point. Soon the first marrow test will be completed and analyzed and we should have a basic idea what Sebastian's fate from the gene therapy procedure will be. Please keep Sebastian in your thoughts this week.

Last week was not a fun one. I woke up on Tuesday after a nap with a severe runny nose. Not something you want to deal with when your child has basically no immune system and needs your help. So I went to the hospital, put on a couple of masks, and called upon the doctor to get an opinion. She told me to go home and see what happens. After two days of my nose running like a faucet and no sleep I was thinking I needed to try something new. I called Lynette and asked if she had any allergy medicine. She had a couple of bottles of nasal spray (I will never again tease her for bringing miscellaneous meds when we travel). I took a few doses of it and magically a day later I was cleared by the doctor and back in the game. At first I thought I was just sick and exhausted from spending 16 hours a day in the box, but it was just good old fashioned allergies. Where we are staying, in the outskirts of Milano, there are a lot of trees and grass and my body must not be used to these species. I usually have no allergy problems at home, so it was a surprise to me that I would have allergies elsewhere. Lynette was a true champ and covered my shifts as my nose went hay wire — thank you. It was terrible to know that I could not lend a hand and was basically banished from the isolation area. I am happy to be back where I belong.

Have a great week!