Olivia had the roughest day of the stay so far, but things have settled down and she’s feeling well enough to watch some Netflix!

Earlier today Olivia got sick which caused her feeding tube to come out. After finally getting nausea under control as well as pain under control she had a new feeding tube put in after a couple tries! The good news is she’s NOT had a fever today!

This is what the big event looks like, eating a bowl of potato soup while Preston’s cells (small bag of blood) drips into Olivia’s body over the next 3 or 4 hours! Everything went great today! As mentioned before the real hard part comes in the coming days and months. Please pray that Olivia’s body accepts Preston’s cells and regrows them as her own without major complications! Pray that the lows she will experience will not be too low. Ultimately pray that the cancer never returns!!!

Thank you to everyone that helped make this day possible!

God is good!!!

Donating is underway! This is what it looks like. Apparently it requires video games! Preston is loving having his cousins Gavin and Bruce here to play video games! This will probably last for another 6 hours.

I have not done a good job of updating. Things have gone well the last few days. Olivia has for the most part been comfortable. Preston has his central line and is ready to donate tomorrow! Preston has not enjoyed getting a shot each of the last 4 days but he is good otherwise! Tomorrow will be the big day but it will actually be pretty anti climatic. It basically will be like Preston is donating blood for 8 hours, it circulate and only take cells, they will not take all of his blood! For Olivia she will simply receive a small amount of blood at the end of the day. The real challenge comes in the days, weeks and months ahead. We need her body to accept Preston’s cells and begin to regrow them as her own. We also need her body to not get any infections. The full affect of the radiation and chemo have not shown yet, the low point will probably show in the next week.

Please pray that the the lows are not to low. Pray that Olivia’s body accepts Preston’s cells over the coming months and that her body avoids any infections!

God is good!!!

Liv has been blessed to feel good for her last couple days of freedom! She was able to spend time with cousins in Indy! Her cousins seem to be the best medicine!!

Between radiation appointments today, Olivia had to have a dressing change to her central line. She’s so tough that she never told us that under the bandage was bothering her. Olivia’s skin is very sensitive. This most likely happen from the dressing being put on her skin when it was slightly wet. Add radiation to the mix and we’ve got what looks like a blistered up sunburn that’s very painful!

Olivia had her first radiation treatment at 7 am this morning. She felt fine after but did end up getting a little bit of a headache. She was supposed to get her second treatment of the day at 2 but they just took her back to start at 4.

Today marks the beginning of transplant activities. Olivia is currently getting a central line placed in her chest that will be used for all things going into and out of her blood stream, kind of like her port but this hangs outside of her body. This should be a pretty minor procedure. The worst part is she can’t eat anything until the procedure is done. She had to wait to be taken back for the procedure from noon until 4:30. The doctors refer to the day of the transplant as day 0, days before transplant as T- and days after as T+. Today is T-8.

Many of you you have seen pictures of Olivia’s red wagon before. If you are not familiar there are a bunch of red wagons at Riley hospital that parents can use to transport kids or items. You find them scattered all over the hospital and parking garage. In the past we have had several times that this wagon will pop up right in front of us. Many of these times that it appears have been times that we were discouraged and needed to be picked up. I believe it’s Gods way of reminding us that he is with us! Guess what I saw right outside of the office door today! Yes I’m pretty sure God is reminding us he will be with us through this process!

7/12/18 - countdown 3 more days at home -
✔️Relaxing on the water with cousin Whittney
✔️Met up with Suzanne Crouch and Denny Zent.
✔️Recorded 3 piano songs at Trine’s T. Furth Center that will be played at Olivia’s cousins wedding in September since she won’t be able to attend.
✔️Enjoyed the Liv It Up Allen County party tonight put on by Uncle Grant and Uncle Brandon.
✔️Wore out!