The Snyder Adventures: DAY 40!!

Sorry for the lack of update lately. It has been one full week since the kids arrived and I think I underestimated the amount of work it would be for me to have our kids here. I am not complaining... I can handle it - but I am very busy. We both LOVE having the boys here. They bring a lot of joy and distraction when needed. They are growing and changing so fast and I am glad to not miss anymore of the great little moments.

We had a great time carving pumpkins last Saturday with our friend Jeff. He was very patient and helped Noah with the cutting of his pumpkin (something daddy had to miss out on this year due to lower than normal platelets). I helped Elijah - I think they both turned out super cute. (check out the pictures below). There was a little carnival on the 30th at Elijah's school here in Seattle and the boys had a really fun time. We all dressed up, played games, ate snacks and got candy + prizes. Fun time all around. Elijah did trick-or-treating with his classmates at the SCCA clinic here - lots of kids and LOTS of candy. It was great. Noah and Elijah both went out with daddy around our apartment complex on Halloween night trick-or-treating... only one couple answered with big suckers (big city apartment just isn't the same as our small, friendly neighborhood back home). We ended the night with apple cider, Grandma Beth's home-made sugar cookies and watching Charlie Brown's - The Great Pumpkin.

HEALTH UPDATE: We have reached 40 days post-transplant!!!! YEAH!!! Mark is doing well. Spirits are good and mind is in a good place - but his skin... not so much. The skin GVHD has not gotten any better with standard treatments. In fact it is getting slightly worse by the day. There are quite a few more "less standard" treatments we can try. Some can make his immunity "numbers" go down quite a bit - others require hospitalization. The first one we are going to try is called Extracorporeal photopheresis it is a big name for something I don't totally understand yet. We will have a consult early next week and find out more. Essentially it is a process that takes blood out of Mark, treats it with UVA radiation and then it is put back in him. It is supposed to suppress the new immune system even more and make it "calm down" and stop effecting his skin so much. The Doctor reassured us that it is a good sign that the GVHD is limited to Mark's skin - not organs or digestive system. The medical team is concerned, but hopeful. We are a little nervous where this might lead if it doesn't clear up soon - but we are trusting God to provide healing and strength to endure until then.

Please PRAY for Marks skin!
First for the doctors to know just what to do and for the treatments to be effective sooner then later.
Second for the pain and sensitivity to subside.

We will keep you updated when we know more. Thanks for your support. We are feeling strong. Leaning heavily on God for strength and endurance - but doing fine. I think that might be my new catch phrase "doing fine" - we aren't doing great, yet certainly not bad..... we are doing just fine.