Jake's appointment with the specialist

Jake came home on Thursday and he had an appointment with the specialist scheduled for Monday. We had to be so careful with him until then. The girls were SO good with not being able to see their brother even though he was home. They were such troopers and were just happy knowing he was home. They would always ask if he was sleeping, or eating just so they could be aware of what he was doing even though they didn't get to see him. Having Jake "quarantined" in our bedroom worked out actually pretty well because I was recovering from surgery myself and trying to rest, so we both just hung out upstairs and tried to get better together.

On Monday we were really anxious to go and see the specialist (hematologist/oncologist). One of the test results came back saying that they found my antibodies in Jake's body! That was actually good news! The doctors (about 3 of the specialists spoke together about Jake's condition before we came in) all thought that this was the route of his problem. This was one of the scenarios that we were given and it was the best case scenario! What this means is that at sometime in my life I caught a cold or flu or some virus (like normal) and my body had to create antibodies to fight off the infection. These antibodies have stayed in my body and continue to help fight off anything that could come and try to harm me again. For some reason Jake's white blood cells (specifically his neutrophils) look very similar to the cold/flu infection bacteria that I had at some time in my life. Therefore my antibodies go to work and start attacking them trying to protect my body. Unfortunately these don't need to be attacked because they are Jake's neutrophils!! If only I could talk to my body!

It wasn't a problem when he was in the womb, but now that he is out and trying to survive on his own his body is weak. Now it just seems like it is a waiting game. We have to wait until all of my antibodies get out of his system so his neutrophils can build up and protect his body as they should. The only problem is that this process can take up to 6 months! The doctor took his blood count at the appointment and it was still at 0...not good. He is still severely neutropenic, however, we have another appointment on March 5th and hopefully we will see some progress. This will still take a while to figure out (his count needs to get to 1500!) but we feel so blessed and we are so grateful that this seems to be the problem (something that will resolve itself - in time) and not something more serious. The doctors seem pretty confident, but only time will tell if this is the only problem or if there is something else effecting little Jake's body. With a lot of prayers we know that Jake will be okay and that come what may the Lord will guide us through whatever we have to face.

With this news the doctor said that we didn't have to strictly keep Jake in our room any longer! She said that Jake could be a member of the family as long as we were careful. As long as the girls aren't sick and we are cautious then they can be around him! That was great news. If others come over then Jake will need to go upstairs again, but at least he can be around us from time to time. That made the girls (and Josh and I of course) so happy!