good day!

6 p.m. blood is here and running. thank you blood donors! she is starting to get her typical facial flushing, and heart rate is a little elevated but she is doing well.

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today has been a good day. melanie has had some pain but much improved from previous days. her energy level was better today as well--surprising since she is still anemic, but perhaps the decrease in pain has allowed for more energy. she even walked for the first time in a week. a little wobbly but really pretty good.

scott and ethan came this morning, and we all had a fun day together. we colored pictures, played in both playrooms, ethan and i played memory, scott took the boys outside to run around, we ordered pizza for lunch, now melanie is resting watching a video and scott took the boys to the park and then they will go home for the night.

scott brought the swing i ordered for melanie to the hospital. it has more support so if melanie has one of the dropping episodes while swinging she will not fall. we hung it up in the small playroom, and melanie had a great time swinging.

right now we are waiting for melanie's blood transfusion to come. we knew she would end up needing one before we left the hospital; hopefully it will help her feel better too.

coram is sending down her iv vanco and iv zofran tonight, so we should be all set to go home tomorrow as long as cultures remain negative--which they should. we will be checking a couple trough levels during the two weeks she is on vanco at home to make sure the dose is right for her. we will also do another culture about three days after she stops the vanco to make sure her port is still clear.

we should be getting out tomorrow morning after rounds! thanks so much for all your prayers. it has been a rough week on melanie, but it could have been much worse. we appreciate your love and support and prayers more than you will ever know!