Happy Birthday, America!

In honor of the 4th, we all made a valiant effort to wear red, white, and blue. (But several of the boys mixed it up with Giants gear). I wore my Cons. I only do this a few times a year. I also made my first venture into the world of skinny jeans. I paired them with the Converse and William said, looking confused, "You look too young!" Clark commented, "You look cool, Mom. You look just like a teenager." I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about these comments. Perhaps I need to just stick with my fashion safety motto which tells me if I wore certain styles the first time around, I'm too old to wear them the second time they become fashionable!

Last night we had a fun "court/neighborhood" soiree with fireworks and ice cream sundaes. We have fantastic neighbors who were willing to shoot off fireworks a day early with us since William is in the hospital today. The boys loved it and couldn't believe how late they got to stay up! And I overheard Clark excitedly asking, "This is playing with fire, right?" Oh, how he makes me nervous for his teenage years! I'd post pictures, but the camera is with Ryan. Read on.

This morning we packed up two cars and headed to the city. William and I headed to UCSF and Ryan and the boys headed to Chinatown, trolley rides, and a Giants baseball game. It's a fun day for most. Otherwise, this begins round 3 of 5 for the antibody therapy. Hopefully this one is reasonably uneventful and the pain is well managed like last time. And we hope to catch a glimpse from our window of the fireworks at Fisherman's Wharf.

William is approaching his 6 month isolation mark, July 31, and we are getting anxious. He's actually closer to the 5 month mark than 6 month mark, but our recent beach vacation really has us craving the completion of his isolation. So I called the BMT office this past week to let them know we would be in SF this whole week and asked if it would be possible to do the blood work now to save me an additional trip to SF. Can you believe I'm trying to avoid a trip to SF? I also mentioned we'd be back at the end of the month too, but I mentioned it more as a fall back plan. After discussion with the parties involved, they agreed to do the preliminary test and if the number is high enough, CD4 >200 (it was 94 at 3 months), they will proceed with the function test. The function test identifies not only if the B and T cells have recovered in numbers, but if they are functioning properly too. The blood was drawn this afternoon and we'll have results tomorrow. If the CD4 is >200, all isolation precautions will likely be lifted, even before the function results are in. We feel like the horse nearing the stable; we can smell the finish and we know how the road is supposed to look from here, but we still have to pass required landmarks. Clip, Clop, Clip, Clop!

Ryan and I also celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary this past week. Last year we ate take out together on a grimy picnic table in front of the hospital. This year we did the happy dance we weren't in the hospital, (although I did take William to the clinic and the rest of the boys to the dentist that day) and then we headed to they gym where we put the kids in child care and after a treadmill workout, relaxed in the hot tub, sans children! Sometimes it's nice to just celebrate things by slowing down the pace.

Happy 4th! May your day be filled with good food, good company, some sparkly lights, and the freedom to enjoy it all!