It's hard to believe another 20 days has passed again. The next time I post will probably be for Jacob's one-year transplant anniversary! Ethan started soccer a few weeks ago and we have been busy, busy, busy keeping up with his activities. It is fun to see him try out the sports he has been waiting for while Jacob has been in isolation the past two years.
We saw Jacob's doctor on Monday and everything is looking great! Just about all of his counts are within normal range now and we pretty much got the ok to let him resume normal life. We are still waiting for the results of the test that shows if his body made antibodies to the tetanus shot that he got in January. He got two more shots on Monday, Hep B and Hib. It's a scary feeling to just trust that his body will know what to do when he gets sick, but that's a leap of faith we're going to have to take at some point. I'd at least like to wait about one more month for flu and rsv season to pass. I'm pretty sure that our family will never be able to look at germs in a normal way again. We always have hand sanitizer handy and we tend to keep our distance from people who are visibly sick. The kids always wash their hands when getting home and before eating. These are all good hygiene practices anyway, but I'm sure we are more strict about them than the average family after everything we've been through.
We are also back on board for going to Seattle for an annual checkup. I'm not sure I'll be able to convince the doctor every year, but I was at least able to persuade him this one time. We plan taking the whole family and making it a fun trip (whenever we're not at appointments or in procedures) now that Jacob is no longer limited to staying away from crowded places. We will try to get this trip scheduled for June so Ethan will be out of school.
Jacob's speech therapy is going well. He has been going for five weeks and I am already starting to notice an improvement. The clinic we have been taking him to is contracted with Kaiser, so we have to pay a co-pay for each session. He has an evaluation with the school district tomorrow to see if he qualifies for free speech therapy with the district.
After a thorough evaluation on Monday, the Kaiser child development doctor recommended that Jacob start out school in a small class so that his immune system isn't bombarded with so many germs at once. He also said a small class would be good because of his speech impairment. Hopefully the school district can offer him something that will fit his needs. His evaluation also showed that Jacob does not have any learning or developmental delays other than his speech. That was a relief to hear. It feels good to be making strides in the right direction to help Jacob catch up with the normal life he has been missing.
