Our biggest little hero!

 Jericho had to be up early on transplant day.  We had to be at the hospital by 6:00 am.  He was asleep when we got in the car and slept the whole ride and he only woke up for a minute when I put him in the wagon to ride into the hospital.  Of course, he had on his Spiderman Jammies! He was so excited to be a Superhero that day. He was a little sad when he had to change out of his Spiderman Jammies and into the hospital gown, but somehow we convinced him that those new hospital Jammies were way cool too. And he got new stickers as soon as he was dressed.  His favorite was the Spiderman sticker of course.

The wagon stayed with us for the whole day.  Mommy made a bed in it and Jericho rode around the hospital as we went from one place to another until we got up to ICS where Jacob waited for his new marrow.  Jericho gets lots of rides in the wagon when he comes to see Jacob.

We waited in a little playroom for a bit as the different doctors came to see us and meet Jericho.  They wanted to say hi and get to know him so he would be more cooperative and comfortable with them when the time came for him to go to the operating room. The anesthesiologist came to meet us and mostly had to reassure mom that Jericho would be ok and he wouldn't let him cry or be scared.  He had a game for us to play so Jericho could happily get to the operating room.  We went out in the hall and he asked me to say "On your marks! Get Set! GO!" ...I did that and we ran down the hall (me still holding Jericho's hand) as we raced with the doctor.  We did that a couple of times and then went back to wait in the playroom for a while because Jericho was so fast that the Dr. had to go find some running shoes before he'd come back and race again.

When the time came for Jericho to go, we walked down the hall with Daddy and the Anesthesiologist held his hand this time.  We got up to the line and Daddy filmed while Mommy said, "On your mark! Get Set! GO!"  Jericho let go of my hand and ran with the Dr. down the hall to the corner.  We turned the corner and did the race one last time.  This time the finish was way ahead of Mommy & Daddy and it ended at the big doors to the operating room.  Jericho won so he got to push the big button on the door and went through with the Doctors. 

We were so nervous that he would be in there crying and Daddy quickly got his phone out and posted a prayer request on facebook asking eveyone to pray that Jericho wouldn't be sad.

We waited in the parent's waiting room for about 2 hours.  When the doctors came to see us, they said Jericho didn't cry at all and he did a great job.  He got to blow up a "balloon" a few times until he got sleepy enough and they said he cooperated very well until he went to sleep.  I really wanted to hold him until he went to sleep, but they wouldn't let me into the O.R. and they said he did just fine. (I still wonder if they would ever come back and tell a set of parents that their son cried and threw a fit the whole time until they got him sedated - somehow I just don't think they would tell us if he did) But, I don't think he did judging by the way he acted all day and he still thinks the hospital is a great place, loves all the nurses here and thinks the Doctors are great.

They collected 338 cc's of bone marrow from Jericho's hipbones and said that the whole procedure went perfectly.

When they finally called us to come back to the recovery room as he was waking up, there he was...our little superhero.

I just had to take a picture of his IV that was perfectly placed on the back of his hand before they wrapped it up.  It looked so much like a "web shooter", I knew Jericho would love to see it.  

 Besides, now he had his own set of Spiderman webs hanging all over him plus a light up finger where the oxygen reading light was.

 Jericho's Spiderman blanket was a gift from Joshua's best friend Chase a few months ago.  Chase had this blanket when he was little and since he's not so little anymore and he knows how Jericho loves Spiderman, he gave him his old blanket.  I don't think he realizes what a special gift this was and how much Jericho loves it.  Since he has been away from Mommy so much and goes to lots of new places while Jacob is in the hospital, this blanket goes with him everywhere.  He especially loved having it on this day because it really made him feel like a special superhero with his blankie.

Jericho, look at all your "webs"!  Jacob has about 10 differnt lines coming out of him strung up to his IV pole all the time when Jericho comes to see him at the hospital.  I think he decided that those lines are like "webs" and he often talks about "fixing" his brothers with his Spiderman webs and his special Spiderman blood.                                                     

When he finally woke up, we changed him back into another set of Spiderman jammies and he had to move his special stickers from the hospital pajama to his own pajama.  The nurse even got special blue and red tape for his hand when she took out his IV so it looked like something Spiderman would wear.

 Jericho was soo tired by the time we got up to Jacob's room. I just sat him down to take a picture with Jacob. ...Jacob was pretty tired too.  They both slept for a while as we waited for Jericho's fresh marrow to be processed and brought up for Jacob.

The marrow arrived right at 2:30 in this little  ice chest.  The bag was packed in ice to keep it fresh. The delivery nurse brough the precious marrow into the room and there it is.  That's alot of marrow! No wonder Jericho is so tired.

As the nurse was hanging up the bag of marrow, the whole entire staff of nurses on the ICS floor came in to sing, "Happy Bone Marrow Birthday to YOU!"  They sang it to the tune of Happy Birthday and brought a big banner that we'll keep and use every year when we celebrate Jacob's extra birthday. His BMT birthday on August 26.

I woke up Jericho because we didn't want him to miss the big event as his bone marrow dripped in Jacob's line so he could see how it would work.  He was soo grumpy and did not want to wake up.  This was exactly 4 hours from when he last had pain medicine which is just when the doctors said it would be wearing off.  It was hard getting him to take some pain medicine and he cried through the first 20 minutes or so while everyone was singing the birthday song and we were hanging the marrow.  If I can get the videos to post, you'll hear him in the background. 

Jericho finally felt better and wanted to snuggle up with Jacob while the marrow was transfused to him.

That's the line, full of Jericho's marrow slowly pumping into Jacob.  True "life blood".

Checking out their birthday presents together while waiting for the marrow to drip.

These two couldnt be more alike...seriously.  Just look at them both in exactly the same position.  They do this sort of thing a lot...it's no wonder they match.

Napping in his new hat that he earned from Elliot the therapy dog.  Here you can really see how puffy he was after the procedure.  They had to give him a lot of fluids and his little face was really swollen.  His fingers were swollen too and he really looked like a different kid for a little while.

 That's right Jericho! Cancer FEARS YOU!!! You are a true hero and a life saver.  That's a lot to cheer about!