To Auckland we go

We were finally given a date that Caitlin had to be at Starship to start her treatment. This was the 28th
January, ready for her first appointment on the 29th. She had a blood test where they took 6 tubes out.
To cut a long story short, on the 31st January Caitlin went into theatre to have a procedure done that put her at risk of infection. She had to go on antibiotics for a week which delayed her treatment start date by two weeks.
Then while Caitlin was in theatre we were told the donor was unable to make the new dates for her
bonemarrow harvest, that she is busy until the middle of march. She is still very committed in being Caitlins donor but has something she needs to do. What we don't know.
The donor is from Germany.
Also Caitlins specialist is away in April. We had the option of another doctor or we could wait. They
said a month wont make any difference if we wanted to wait.
So the plan is, March I take her up to sign the consents etc, then towards the end of April she goes back
up, has her hickman line put in and starts chemo. When its time for the new cells the specialist will be back
to oversee.

Getting put to sleep for her operation

In the beginning

On the 20th February 2012 Caitlin had her first bone marrow aspirate and trephine done at
Starship Childrens Hospital. On the 27th February we found out she had Myelodysplasia also.
 Logan had a transplant in July 2011 for the same thing.
Since then she has had another 3 aspirates and countless blood tests.
She has come a long way with her bloods tests. What used to stress her out has now become second
nature. Its easy to get used to when you have them fortnightly. She has moved on from finger pricks
and now has them out of  her arm.

Caitlin getting a finger prick blood test