The nurses sang Happy Birthday to Kendall and brought him a balloon and various donated gifts (a blanket, pillow case, book, journal, and a hat) to celebrate his “new birth” Day 0 today. I think I have mentioned this before, but the rest of his life will count up from this day (tomorrow is Day +1, and so forth). January 28th will forever be the anniversary of Kendall’s Day 0 of his bone marrow transplant (and as Kendall pointed out, easy to remember as it is also the day of the Challenger explosion….).
I was not allowed to be there for the actual transplant, but I was able to go up during visiting hours tonight. Kendall clearly wasn’t feeling too great, struggling with a lot of nausea and fatigue, and while I was there I noticed that he looked flushed and felt quite hot to the touch (don’t tell on me that I broke the stay six feet away rule to touch him). I called in a nurse and Kendall did have a fever of 102. Not good. Right before I left they brought in a portable X-ray machine to X-ray his chest, and they were going to start him on an IV broad-spectrum antibiotic. We’re not sure if the fever is an indication of some sort of infection, the CMV, or a sign of graft vs. host disease. It was hard to leave him, but I’m supposed to get updates tonight from his nurse on his condition.
So for better or worse, here’s to making it to (and through) Day 0!