2 Days at NIH...

Bobby had appointments Tuesday & Wednesday at NIH. On Tuesday, he had to be there early for apheresis. That is the procedure where they start 2 IV lines and pull the blood through a machine that separates out the white blood cells (and keeps them). The machine spins the blood and tries to only collect the WBCs. They had gotten thru pretty much most of the procedure (which takes 4 hours) when the BIG IV stopped working. They tried to re-start it but that one didn't work either. So, they stopped the collection...and had gotten most of what they needed. Bobby then had to start drinking the contrast for his CT scans. This is a picture of him in the waiting room while waiting for the CT. The scanned his chest, abdomen, and pelvis (lots of lymph nodes in all of those places). That process didn't take too long. After he was finished, we went up to the NIH cafeteria for a great lunch. Then we headed home.

The next day, Wednesday, his appt. was at 1PM in the Clinic to see the doctors and get the results from the previous days' testing. I think we finally saw the doctor at 4PM. Then, we had to wait for over an hour for them to order his vaccine. We went down to the coffee shop and we all got a treat. Julie & Dan went along. This has been the first time they could go without missing school! It was exciting for them to go with Dad and to see all of the neat things at NIH. We left home early to eat (with the kids) in the NIH cafeteria. They enjoyed that. While Bobby was waiting for the doctors, the kids went up to the library and read for about 2 hours.

The greatest part of our day was hearing the news that EVERYTHING LOOKS GREAT! They told Bobby that his face is healing VERY WELL, and that even more importantly, ALL OF HIS SCANS looked PERFECT! Bobby had been nervous over this...but once again HE PASSED WITH FLYING COLORS!

They will continue with the vaccines every 3 weeks. They are pleased with the response that Bobby's body is showing to the vaccine. The shots make his leg swollen and red and lumpy. Kathy (the vaccine nurse) says that this is showing that Bobby's immune system is responding to the vaccine.

Thanks to everyone for your thought and prayers. All of the support is very helpful!