Day 2 & Our address for the next month +

A lot of people are asking for our address here at the hospital and what they can or can’t send. So here is a list of both below.

Don’t send:
Flowers
Baked goods
Fresh fruit or vegetables
No dried fruit or nuts with shells

Things you can send:
A card
A letter with pictures to hang up
Individually packaged and processed foods or treats like fun size pretzels, chips, cookies, candy bars, basically any junk food in the individual size packs.
Just a note: Bridger prefers painting over coloring


Send to:

Texas Children's Hospital
Bone Marrow Transplant unit
Bridger Gustafson Room 845
6621 Fannin Street
Houston, Texas 77030

Today we got a letter from our Donor. It touched our hearts and made us all cry. She expressed her feelings of excitement of getting to be Bridger’s donor. She lost a loved one because there was no donor match and has been on the registry every sense. She sounds so amazing. Almost every night I tell Bridger “I am so lucky Heavenly Father sent you to me.” I also feel this way about our donor. Because of her I get to keep telling him how lucky I am. We are both looking forward to meeting each other in one year.

Bridger has had another fantastic day! Why I was talking to Blake on the phone all the sudden Bridger started to yell very loudly! “GO GO GATORS, FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT, FRONT STEP BACK STEP, BITE BITE BITE!” Blake and I were laughing so hard I couldn’t even ask him were he learned the cheer. It was from a cartoon, “surprise”. He continued cheering over and over getting louder each time. I thought the nurse might come in to see if he was ok. Luckily she happened to be at lunch. Bridger got his first blood transfusion today of Red blood cells because his hemoglobin was low. Which type of blood type you may be asking, his original blood type or his donor’s? His for now, the Dr. said his type won’t change to the donors type until later. The Dr. also said that he is doing extremely well and he knocked on wood for us. He said that the longer Bridger stays well the shorter his down time will be. They say when his #’s reach bottom he will be sick. But hopefully because he is doing so great he will only be sick for a short time. Faith works miracles don’t you think.

Some have asked what I do all day. Basically, I sit with Bridger. He likes me to be right beside him at all times (I am glad that I have him to be beside). He even wants me by his side when he is watching cartoons. He watches me to make sure that I am watching and says “Don’t even take your eyes off of the TV for one second”. I try to read but then my eyes are not on the TV. If I am talking on the phone it is too loud for him to hear the TV. If it’s not cartoons, I am trying to get him to eat, or am eating myself. Today he ate a ham and cheese sandwich and pudding for lunch and it took him just under two hours. That may be a record. He is a very slow eater. I also take naps with him, read a lot of his books, and I spend a lot of time trying to convince him of playing any number of games with me. Don’t forget the bathroom breaks with the gloves, and all the bathing. Then there are all the visits from the Nurses in and out 50 times a day, for various reasons. Some examples are; to hook up the medicine, flush the medicine, change the IV tubing because his blood backed up into the line, whenever he needs blood products, to draw labs, to help when he throws up, they even bring him hot chocolate if he wants it. Then there are the visits from the Patient Care Techs aka, PCA or nurse assistants. They come in and take his vital signs every two, or three hours. So at night once Bridger is asleep, my phone calls are made, the blog is updated and I’ve read my scriptures, I usually go right to sleep because although I have done nothing physically, mentally I am exhausted.