"While I'm Waiting"

It has been 8 days since our world turned upside down. Madison has already had four transfusions since then. Last week was a complete blur and to be honest reality didn't hit until Monday night. I finally broke down and asked the doctors those really hard questions. "Why does Madison have to have a bone marrow transplant?" "Is this serious?" "What is the bone marrow unit at the hospital like?" "Can our kids come and see Madison after her transplant?"

One question after another I asked.. Even though I was in tears I had to know what was going on... Really going on!

Madison has to have a bone marrow transplant as soon as possible. MDS/Monosomy 7 is aggressive and if we don't move quickly it will turn into leukemia. The type of leukemia is also aggressive and doesn't respond to chemo alone.

Harrison and Mae even if a perfect match can not donate. Since we are still waiting on the genetic testing to return from Cleveland (6 weeks) it is too risky. In addition, Harrison and Mae also have low blood counts. There recent bone marrow biopsies revealed that there bone marrow is only producing 50% of the cells it should. Thankfully they don't have monosomy 7!

Today, at this moment it feels like a waiting game. We are waiting for Madison's blood tests to come back so they can begin searching for a match through the Cord Blood Bank. After a match is found a date and plan will be set... We are waiting to see if this is a hereditary bone marrow failure syndrome that could affect Harrison and Mae. We are waiting for the fear to pass.

When we were trying to have kids (four years of waiting) I loved the song "While I'm Waiting by John Waller. At this time in our life we draw near to our Lord and Savior and enjoy today for that is what he has given us.