Captain CORAgeous wins again!

On this, the 6th birthday of Captain CORAgeous, we were given an amazing gift of hope.  At exactly 12:10 (I was watching the clock, read below to see why) Cora's doctors came to do rounds.  Cora was just falling asleep so they asked to see me in the hall.  I was totally annoyed because Andrew was born at 12:10.  I planned to spend 12:10 reflecting on my brave son and his first 6 years. 

I could never have been prepared for what they would tell me.  One of the markers of bone marrow success is a rise in Cora's neutrophils, showing that Andrew's bone marrow is doing its job.  The doctor started the conversation by talking about how great Cora has been doing, how the effects of chemo have been minimal, and how happy they are with her progress.  I can hardly believe my ears when he says, "so, we need to talk about working you out of here.  Have you thought about where you will go after here - home or transition housing?"  Uumm, excuse me, do you have the wrong patient?  Apparently, Cora's neutrophils have already started going up.  Yesterday, they were 102 and today they are 420.  This indicates Andrew's bone marrow is doing its job! 

All this on the same day and at the same time that we were blessed with Captain CORAgous!  It gets better though - my lunch was delivered as I was talking to the doctors.  I took the tray from sweet Eunice and thought, what is that smell?  Whatever, I was lucky to be holding the tray without dropping it at that moment.  When I came into our room and sat down to eat lunch and share our news with you, my turkey sandwich wasn't turkey.  It was TUNA FISH!  (Oh, I just heard my sister, Connie and Lee Ellen gasp)  Tuna fish, which I hate, is a symbol of my grandmothers legacy.  Tuna fish was wrongly delivered to my room, at the exact moment of Andrew' birth and Cora's rebirth.  I ate the tuna fish, without complaining, just for Mommom. 

So, today we will celebrate Andrew and a glimmer of hope for Cora.  Her risk of life threatening infection is still very, very high.  We haven't even started to talk about GVHD (rejection of the bone marrow) but we know that the bone marrow has started to do its job.  We have a long rollercoaster ahead but we have climbed the first hill.