evan zimmerman

We’ve now gone 30 days since Day +100, and things continue to slowly improve. Our last few visits have seen Zoe’s WBC counts between 5.5 and 6.0, holding fairly steady. That puts her in the low normal range, and she hasn’t had any growth medication since that last time.

The biggest improvement overall has come in the form of a medication, one that we wished we had started months ago, called Reglan. It’s a bowel treatment medication that suppresses spit-ups and speeds along digestion. Zoe has had the worst time transitioning to solid foods while still healing from her chemotherapy, and as a result we’ve really struggled with her ability to keep food down.

Since the introduction of Reglan, however, she has had almost no major incidents and has gained some weight and is growing consistently. She began this medication after we pushed for a solution to her bowel issues, which is why I mention it. I’m not sure it’s standard treatment in these cases, but the results we’ve seen have been fantastic. I know I sound like a commercial, but this was a really big leap forward for us and I want to mention it in case others have this issue.

We have finally left Durham, and the girls and Michelle are currently staying in Asheville with family while some work is done on our house. I’m back home for the moment trying to make sure things move along with the renovations — we had to have some things done to our older home before Zoe could safely return.

It’s been a huge relief to leave Durham, we had really begun to feel we’d forgotten what it was like to be anywhere else. We are grateful for the “clean” apartments set up by the Evanosky Foundation for the use of transplant families, but as nice as they were, they weren’t home. Another couple weeks and we hope to all be in one place again.

Zoe is progressing well developmentally. She’s not crawling yet, and we’re beginning to think she may just skip it. My mother tells me I did at her age, so who knows. Zoe is able to stand when held or against something supporting her for decent amounts of time now, but she is also rocking on her hips a lot and scootching around. We’ll see soon what path she decides to take.

All in all, things are progressing well. With the continuing construction on our house and the lateness of the year though, it’s quickly becoming clear that by the time we’re all back together and healthy, this entire year can be written off to getting Zoe through this. It’s better than the alternative of course, but it’s still hard to believe the year is almost over and we’re just now on our way home. If it weren’t for writing it all down, I’m not sure I could tell you exactly what all happened, it’s been such a blur.

PS – Please excuse the horror movie reference in the title, but it is Halloween, after all.