“I’m leavin’ on a jet plane, I don’t know when I’ll be back again…”

Posted Sep 17, 2009 9:27am
So, it’s official… Sarai is going to Arizona! Can you believe this girl?! North Carolina, Arizona… she’s a traveling fool (she gets her adventurous side from me!). On this trip we’ll meet some other families who have had the infusion, along with other families who are big cord blood banking advocates, and we’ll get to tour the facility where the cord blood is banked. They mentioned that I might do a taped interview. How cool! Unfortunately Adam can’t get off from work. We’re both really bummed about that. But (my sister) Katie has offered to step in and take the trip with us. There is NO WAY I’d be able to fly with Sarai on my own. We’re outta here a week from Friday!

We heard from Dr. Escolar, the developmental neurologist from the University of North Carolina. She spoke with me about the results of the MRI that she did. She likened her brain to a highway… she said that the main highway isn’t damaged, but there’s a couple of exits that are blocked. How that will effect her development, we don’t know. She might know more after two more MRI’s. She said, as Sarai develops and begins to use different parts of her brain, she’ll be able to see the growth in the scan and have a better idea what the future will hold. So it looks like we’ll go back to NC in December and March for the MRI’s, and maybe during one of these trips, Sarai will get another infusion. Lots more traveling in this lady’s future!

Sarai had a doctor’s appointment with her pediatrician the other day. She had her first shots, OUCH! But she did very well. The last time I saw her doctor I asked if Sarai’s muscles seemed stiff, she said, “I wasn’t going to tell you unless you asked, but yes.” Yesterday as soon as she touched her, she said, “Wow! She’s much looser!” Is it because she’s maturing? Or because we’re doing stretches with her everyday? Or because of the cord blood? We’ll probably never know. But progress is progress and we’ll take it any way it comes!

Today was the NICU graduation party. What a nice time we had! It was great to see so many nurses and doctors who took care of Sarai. (We saw Dr. Doom, but steered clear!) We met a 6 year old girl who weighed 12 oz when she was born!! Isn’t that amazing!? Her mother told us they thought she might never walk or talk, and she was sure doing all of that and more today! There were tons of people there, so many children. Sarai got lots of “Ooohhs” and “Ahhhsss” as we walked around. She’s the star of the show, clearly!