Monday, September 27,2010

Today we had our inital consult with the anesthesiologist and met with a therapist. Everyone at the XCell Center was really nice! We even met a family from Southern Texas! I hope we get to see them again so we have someone to connect with. The anesthesiologist was very reassuring that side effects from the anesthesia are very uncommon. They will be using one of the same medicines that are commonly used in the United States. He assured us, though, that Zane will not be getting the "Michael Jackson dose." haha This morning we ventured over to the airport to see what kind of shops were there. We found a McDonald's and had breakfast there. I am sure we will be frequently that place now because Zane doesn't care much for the food over here. We also went into the supermarket and bough some lunch meat/gouda cheese- which is AMAZING!

Tomorrow we go in for the bone marrow collection. We have to be there at 1:00 pm (6:00 am back home) Please pray for no side effects from the anesthesa, no complications with the procedure, no pain afterwards and, most importantly, that they are able to collect MILLIONS of cells! The more cells they get, the better chance Zane has of making better progress.

Thursday our lumbar puncture is scheduled for 10:45 am (3:45 am back home) We will have more details about this tomorrow as we meet with our neurosurgeon tomorrow.

We  need LOTS of prayers right now for a successful procedure tomorrow. We know God is in control of this situation and are excited to see the results! Thanks again everyone for your support through all of this!

Sightseeing

We have had a fun filled 2 days! Yesterday we went to Old Town/Alstadt and had a blast! It was fun to walk around and see the old buildings and shops. Jeff and I both ate a doner but Zane opted for McDonald's! After we got back, we all took a big nap because we were so exhausted! We just ordered room service for dinner. This morning we got up and ate the breakfast buffet at our hotel. It was good, but I found it kind of odd that they eat lunch meat for breakfast. When we were done eating, we walked to the hotel to the supermarket and bought some cokes and juice. It will be nice to have coca cola in our room- even if there isn't any ice. After that, we went to the Aquazoo. This is an AMAZING place! We got LOTS  of awesome photos. We got to see the Rhine River. We then went back to Old Town to eat at Fuchschen Alt. This was a good place to get authentic German food and at a reasonable price! Jeff and I both had knuckle of pork with saurkraut and mashed potatoes. Zane had a breaded schnitzel but ended up eating our mashed potatoes. Jeff acutally tried the saurkraut but he didn't like it- it tastes much like what it does in the U.S. After this we went for another walk around Old Town. We ended up down by the Rhine River. We walked along the river until we came to the Rhine Tower. We went up in the Rhine Tower and took some awesome pictures of Dusseldorf. By this time, Zane was getting grumpy and we were pretty wore out so we headed back to our hotel. Now I am in the process of uploading some pictures! Tomorrow we go to meet with the anesthesiologist at 2:00 pm, (7 am back home) We are so excited to get this treatment done! We wanted to get the majority of our sightseeing out of the way so Zane can spend some time in the hotel recovering. We are missing Ezekiel, but we know he is being well taken care of! We love it over here, but also miss being home!

WE MADE IT!!!

We have arrived in Dusseldorf! We came straight to our hotel room after we got off the plane so we haven't been out doing much yet. So far we love it here. Our hotel room is SO nice! When we got off the plane, someone from the XCell Center was waiting to bring us to our hotel. (Which is right by the airport!) I wasn't expecting them to be there so that was a nice suprise. Zane is playing in the floor with his cars and Jeff is trying to find English channels on the TV. We have to report to the XCell Center on Monday at 2:00 pm for our anesthesia consult. The bone marrow aspiration is Tuesday and the lumbar puncture is Wednesdays. As soon as I have specific times I will post them. Germany is 7 hours ahead of the time back home. I'm hoping to get off here and catch a nap, so I will be updating as we can! Thanks for checking in!

Less than 12 hours away!

Hey guys!!

We are less than 12 hours from leaving for Germany! We are so thankful to everyone who has made this possible. We are especially thankful to Jeff's parents, Dean and Rhonda Colyer, and my parents, Sid and Sherry Gross, for taking such GREAT care of Ezekiel while we are gone. I am going to miss him SO much and I know he will miss his "buba!"

We are needing some VERY specific prayers right now. We need prayers for safe travel, for Ezekiel being able to cope with us being gone. Most of all, right now we are asking for prayers for MILLIONS of stem cells when they do the bone marrow aspiration on Tuesday. I will be updating as I know more details about what will be going on. I will be mainly updating through this blog and will post a link on facebook everytime I update. I am SOOOO excited yet SOOO nervous. Zane is in God's hands and I just know this is going to have a GREAT outcome :)

Less than 2 weeks away!

WOW! Time has flown by! We are leaving in less than 2 weeks! We have raised $26,795.45!! We are so thankful to everyone who has helped us provide this opportunity for Zane! I have started packing a little at a time and am amazed at how stressful that can be! I can't believe that in less than 2 weeks we will be in Germany! It seems like only yesterday that we decided to pursue this. I thought it would have taken a lot longer to raise our goal- when I told people what our goal was, they would always say, "That's a lot of money!" We truly believe that this is God's will for Zane and are praying for great results! Now, these are a few more specific prayers we are asking for: Safe travel and successful procedures (more specifically that they will harvest MILLIONS of stem cells on September 27- the more cells they can harvest, the better chances we have of this helping Zane) I hate the thought of leaving Ezekiel for a week, but I know he will be in great hands. Hopefully he will adjust to us being gone for a week and the grandparents will have a great week with him! Once again, we would like to thank EVERYONE for their support!!

I created this blog as a tool to keep everyone updated while we are in Germany. We will be leaving for our trip on September 24! We are very excited and can't wait to give Zane the chance at life he deserves! It seems like it was only yesterday when Jeff called me at work to tell me all about this exciting treatment he found in Germany! I have started packing a little bit each day but am feeling very overwhelmed! I am also dreading having to leave Ezekiel behind with grandparents. I know he will be well taken care of (and probably will be spoiled rotten) but it will definitely be different with him not being around! I am so excited to see the results that we get from this treatment as we have heard some very exciting stories from other families who have taken their children. I will try to update between now and when we leave again!