Sally sleeping through her blood transfusion.

Hi all – Nicole says Sally had a rough day. She received both a platelet and a blood transfusion today, sleeping through the latter. She was unhappy most of the day, also having unusually high blood pressure. Doctors think this is due to a combination of the steroids and that Sally is likely experiencing some pain. Right before I arrived this evening she received morphine, which apparently kicked in as I arrived since I received a big smile and lots of leg and arm pumping excitement. Or she just thinks Daddy is…you know…awesome. Doctors are going to give her continuous morphine every 4 hours to see if minimizing the pain lowers her blood pressure.

Sally’s buddy Scarlett and her parents joined other families from the MSK family to ring the closing bell at the Dow today. It was to kick off Childhood Cancer Awareness Month over the next few weeks. Only 3.8% of the $5 billion in federal cancer funding goes to pediatric research. Most funding has to come from private sector donations.

To those who have sent in donations and gifts and haven’t received a thank you from Nicole and I, please accept our apologies. It can be a bit overwhelming and are doing our best to stay on top of it. Please know that we appreciate everything and are humbled by people’s generosity. Every day I’m home I enjoy opening letters and packages for Sally, I know Nicole does as well, it brings us so much happiness.

Please keep Sally in your thoughts and prayers, and hope for a better day for our sweet sunshine tomorrow.

Matt