Christmas in July

It was Christmas in July ...

Our two boys bonded on a cellular level.  One saved the other's life.  We celebrated Reece's bravery and Quincy's rebirth. 

Wednesday July 20th

Donned in his superhero cape made by Granny B and two other amazing ladies, Reece checked into surgery, fell asleep to the smells of cotton candy and a nice dose of anesthesia, and donated 420mls of his beautiful bone marrow. 

Andrew and I waited for him in the hallway as they wheeled him to his room in the oncology unit.  There he was, orange Popsicle in hand, "Bunny" tucked under his arm, feeling groggy but content.  The doctors were so cute to give Bunny a breathing mask to match Reece's in the *O.R. 

Reece had always wondered what "Quincy's Hospital" looked like. Well, now he knows! 

After a 2 hour nap, Reece woke and hobbled over to Quincy's room in the *BMT unit. His back was hurting and he was weirded out by the IV in his arm, but he was a trooper.  

We all had the BEST day together! We showed Reece the BMT family room and played in there for most of the day with new toys from the Child Life Specialists, played video games, ate donuts, listened to some awesome music by Carl Anthony (the musician who visits the kids here), and watched movies. 

I stayed with Reece in his room that night and it was less than spectacular. Surprisingly, he wanted to go home and be in his own bed. For the past few months he has been saying how excited he was to sleep in a hospital bed and have room service... not so much. He didn't like the room and he didn't like the pizza.

July 21

Bone Marrow Transplant Day

Best Christmas (in July) gift ever... a new chance on life.  Honestly, my Christmas lists to Santa will be blank forever. Nothing compares to what Reece did for Quincy on this day.

Around 4pm, Quincy's life was saved. 

He was asleep, doped up on Benedryll for possible allergic reactions, but nevertheless, it was beautiful. 

"Reece! BOTH hands, Reece... REECE... you're not listening to us"!  Little Bro one-handedly delivered his marrow to Quincy's bedside as we all stressed out that this little 5-year-old might drop the dang bag and ruin everything. Docs were laughing, parents were not. 

Our little warrior was surrounded by family (including Grams of course!), doctors, nurses, a healing touch therapist and a harpist as the marrow dripped in.  If you didn't know by now, a bone marrow transplant is like a blood transfusion, not a surgery. It's a 4 hour drip.

Something special was in the air.  Time stopped. We were caught in some kind of "in between".  Have you ever been at someone's side during the last moments of their life, or been present when someone was born?  There's something different in the air.  You lose track of where (and when) you are... that's the "in between"...  That's where we were...The harp, the healing touch, the quietness, the stillness, the feelings of angels, all these YEARS of sickness finally being put behind us. Best of all, I felt my sister Marcy's presence. I bawled.  God I miss her.  I knew she would not miss this moment, she never missed any moment in my life. 

Quincy woke up after the team left. He just shot right up with a silly grin on his face like he was pretending to be asleep the whole time. 

The rest of the night was wonderful. 

Stay tuned for another BMT chapter...

*BMT - Bone Marrow Transplant

*O.R. - Operation Room