Saturday March 31

It's been 10 days since the last update, and we've packed lots in to them. On Monday, Julian went in to have 4 cavities filled. Sounds like no big deal, right? But being so little, the surgery has to be on an out-patient basis with general anesthesia at Children's Hospital! So, at 5:30 a.m. we packed him into the car with us and our coffee (I love coffee!) and headed out. It's an hour's drive to the hospital, so we got there around 6:30, checked him in, and his surgery was at 8:30. It was pushed until 9:00 because of the special formula IV he needed to have, one without potassium in it. When all was said and done, he had 7 cavities filled. You heard me. 7 cavities. No teeth pulled, however, and a thorough cleaning. His teeth are bright and shiny now, and SEALED! Unfortunately he doesn't have 3 of his molars yet...or they could have sealed those too.

He should be good to go for a year or so! It was necessary that we get all his dental work done prior to him being listed on the Kidney Recipient list. He has one more test and I have to complete a social evaluation with a social worker and that all happens next Thursday. He will then be on the list officially.

He won't be able to receive a transplant for another few weeks, however, because of the live vaccine MMR-V we gave him a week and a half ago. You need to wait 1 month after a live vaccine before giving anyone immune-suppressant drugs, otherwise they may develop the disease that they were vaccinated against because they were just exposed to a live version of it in the vaccine.

On another note, my mom is not doing well at all, and so we are all going to Phoenix for Easter. Julian and I will stay for a week, and Dave will stay just for Easter weekend. Since Julian will have no more tests, and be unable to receive a kidney anyway for a couple more weeks, we can travel with him. Technically they say you can travel anyway, even when you are actively on the list, but we don't want to do that because what happens if we are in Phoenix and a perfect match comes in for him? We have to either fly back within a couple hours, which is not always possible, or have the transplant in Phoenix. And since the surgical transplant team we want to use is in Denver, that seals the deal for us. We stay in Colorado until he gets his kidney.

My mom has cancer, metastatic breast cancer which spread to her bones and her brain. So far, after the re-diagnosis (she had breast cancer and was "clear" for a couple years...not really, actually, but they thought she was!) she has been on different regimens of Chemotherapy to manage the growth. This last Chemotherapy really took a toll on her body, and she is now not strong enough to continue the regimen. She has missed the last two weeks worth, which means the cancer has the opportunity to grow again and will. She has been in the hospital twice in the last 2 weeks, and is just not doing very well.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.