20 Months Post Transplant

Over the course of the last several weeks we've had a good look at how Georgia's body is doing.  We had a follow up appointment with our orthopedic doc, Chappie, which included five x-rays to check on her femur, heel and to see if her legs are growing at the same rate. 

I will never forget the conversation we had with the head radiologist before transplant, despite the fact that some doctors were baffled by the idea of not doing radiation on Georgia's leg, he had a different opinion.  He said, "if this were my child I would not do radiation, it will certainly damage the growth plate and shorten her left leg."  I remember this conversation nearly every time I see Georgia running and remembered it again as we reviewed her x-rays.

I was thrilled to hear that from her hips to her ankles, everything is the same length, a reminder of how incredible the human body is.  We barely touched on the subject of her heel and spent most of the time talking about the regeneration of her femur.  In comparison, the left bone is still lighter on x-ray than the right indicating that there is likely a cyst from the three invasive biopsies that were done.  The reality is that a destructive tumor, chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant have been very hard on Georgia's body, bones included.  Regeneration is happening in the left femur but it's likely to take up to another year to be nearly normal.

Brian and I left that appointment with good news but both felt like we'd been completely deflated.  The kid gloves are off, we are seasoned parents who understand the lingo and our doctors talk to us that way.  Despite the fact that we are nearly  two years into this, hearing how harsh all of the procedures and treatments have been on my baby never gets easier.

Monday we had our monthly clinic appointment.  All outward signs suggest that Georgia's body is doing well nearly two weeks off of immune suppression, that still doesn't calm my fears the way it should.  The clinic day dance still happens, with thoughts of "she's eating well but what about her liver numbers" or "GVHD isn't cancer, wait... please, please, please no indications of cancer!"  I swear unless our doctor walks in with a "this is the happiest day on earth" demeanor, I panic.

All in all Georgia is doing very well, nearly all of her lab numbers are normal and the two that are a bit out of range are fine.  We discussed the strength of her immune system, our newly German engineered model is still building strength but should be up to full capacity in three months.  We still need to protect Georgia from getting sick, even a cold could rev up her immune system enough to bring on GVHD which could put us back on immune suppression.

X-rays and labs and doctors are overwhelming for all of us but it just takes one look from my miracle of a child and I'm smiling again.  We've had a lot of help along the way but you Georgia, you are the one doing this, my heart could burst from the amount of love I have for you my girl.  Happy 20 months post transplant - you are amazing!