The Sensible Mom

Food, DIY, Chicago Mom Blogger

severe aplastic anemia

Video Blog: Bone Marrow Transplant Day -7

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Bone Marrow Transplant Day -7
I made this video around 6:00pm yesterday evening. David had a good night, and today he’ll be getting his second dose of the chemotherapy drug Cytoxan. He tolerated this drug well yesterday, and hopefully he does just as well with it today. Tomorrow he’ll start the really horrible longer lasting drug called ATG. David received this type of chemotherapy in September, and he ended up going into what the pediatric intensive care unit believes was septic shock.

The hematology doctors think it could’ve been something called serum sickness as a result of the ATG or it could’ve been serum sickness that led to septic shock. Whatever it was, David had to be in intensive care afterwards, and it was one of the scariest experiences of my life.

The good news is that his doctors are well aware of the side effects that David experienced last time around and what happened after the ATG treatment was over. HeΒ has to be pre-medicated, which I strongly dislike and always say “no” to unless it’s absolutely necessary. But there’s no choice in whether or not he’s pre-medicated when he gets the ATG. It’ll run for about 10 hours tomorrow. πŸ™

Click here for more posts and videos about David’s Story.


Video Blog: Meet David and Bone Marrow Transplant Day -8

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Bone Marrow Transplant (Day -8)

I uploaded this video to YouTube last night, but I was too tired to post about it until today. You can’t tell from the video, but I’ve been dealing with a crazy headache that still hasn’t gone away. I’m not sure why but this seems to happen every time I stay overnight at the hospital. I think it’s the hospital coffee that may be my problem. Maybe it’s secretly decaf. πŸ˜‰

I don’t know. Thankfully, Ruben was able to bring me my mini coffee maker from home, and I hope that helps today.

Oh, and in today’s video, you’re meeting David and getting to know a little of his personality. You’ll notice that when he’s feeling well, he’s your typical boy. πŸ™‚

Click here for more posts and videos about David’s Story.


Video Blog: David’s Story and more about Severe Aplastic Anemia (signs and symptoms we noticed in our son)

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I know this video is late. πŸ˜‰

I decided to try using a different computer to edit my video and upload it to YouTube. That was a mistake because the video upload kept timing out and failing.

With the help of my husband, we finally got it to upload around 8 hours later…

Lesson learned, and I’ll be using my regular method next time.


Video Blog: David’s Story, Severe Aplastic Anemia, and a Bone Marrow Transplant

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My Video Blogging Plans – Moving Forward
For the next few months, I’m going to try to create one video each day as we prepare for David to go through a bone marrow transplant, and then I want to continue to create videos each day as he goes through it. My desire is to share our very personal story in the hopes that it could be a source of benefit and encouragement to a family who may find themselves in a similar position later on down the road.

I know that Ruben and I own a debt of gratitude to all the families who’ve shared their struggles and joys as they’ve walked though the horrible experience of having a child diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia. I’ve been following tons of Facebook pages that are updated by moms and dads who are walking through the ups and downs of this disease with their precious son or daughter, and I can’t thank them enough. Because of their transparency, we don’t feel alone in this, and we know that there are families out there who know exactly what we’re going through.

Spreading Awareness
I also want to spread awareness and help people understand that when someone is diagnosed with aplastic anemia, they don’t need an iron supplement.

They need a blood transfusion…and a bone marrow transplant. It’s serious.

Lastly, I want to encourage people to register to become bone marrow donors. It’s easier to register than you might think — I’m hoping to show you just how easy it is in an upcoming video. But think about it, you could be the match that someone else out there needs. By God’s grace, your bone marrow could be the cure to their disease. That’s pretty awesome!

Look for my next video tomorrow and then every day after that. If you have any questions you’d like me to answer, feel free to ask them in the comments either on this post or on YouTube.

Oh, and these videos will be raw. David’s going to be receiving chemotherapy. That will be horrible, and his hair will eventually fall out. God is in control; though, and we’re trusting that He’ll bring David through this.

I will essentially be living in a hospital room, so my hair will be messy, and I may be wearing the same clothes two days in a row.