Day 8

Hello All,

Well, Tom's 8/100's done with this transplant business and is looking great! His nausea is decreasing. He's not excited about food, but he can eat. He's also being administered intravenous nutrition now. Throughout this week Tom has felt better and enjoyed visits from friends and family. Each day the doctor notes, surpisingly, how well Tom looks. The doctor also shared that Steve gave Tom an abundance of stem cells. He wasn't specific about the number and how it compares to the average donation, but it was definitely on the high end. Here they are on the big day last week:

By the end of this week the doctor's expect to see Tom's white blood count raise from the .1 that it's been since the transplant. We're eagerly looking forward to hearing that news around Friday, give or take.

Today Gabriel got to see Tom at the hospital. Last week, after declaring that he WOULD wear the mask and gloves we prepared for a visit by asking for a doctor's order for him to come up and by practicing wearing the mask and gloves at home. Gabriel lasted about 20 minutes before he'd had it with the mask, but did very well while he was there.

Today the ominous hair loss symptom took hold. Tom faced it head on (pun intended) by asking Tim to come and shave his head:

This week was also our first chance to call upon the help of the many of you who have signed up to make it possible for me to visit Tom by hanging out with Gabriel. The calendar and all you signees have been a great relief to me and I thank everyone who signed up over the last two weeks. I don't know what I would do without this support.

Thank you all for being the community holding Tom, Gabriel and me up. We really feel it. Much love, The Highland Park DuBranskys