Well, hello, strangers. 

I have not updated this in a while because there really was nothing to update on. Now there is, though.

Since the last update, things have been going relatively well as we wait for Kayley's numbers to rise. It is common for Aplastic Anemia patient's transplanted cells to grow slowly. We have had two returns to the hospital, one for fever and another for a minor infection. That is pretty darn good compared to other marrow transplants. Unfortunately, her transplanted cells are stagnating and not growing as they should. This is again somewhat common for Aplastic Anemia. Also somewhat common is the need to go through a second transplant, where we are now. 

When this happens, there are a few options. First, they will try to get more marrow from the original donor. Since the patient and donor share the same immune system at this point, they give the second donation as a "booster" without the need to use chemotherapy to destroy the existing cells. The other options are some specific medications that boost cell production. 

In this case, Kayley's original donor is not available until November of next year, and over the last few months, medication has not helped. Because Kayley is in excellent health now, and the dangers of walking around with low blood counts, a head injury from something minor could be severe and cause internal bleeding. It is better just to have a new donor and go through the process again rather than wait.

So that is the update. We have to go back and do the whole thing over. None of us are looking forward to it, but it is what it is. We expect this to happen in the next few months.