Enjoying time away from the hospital

The last few days have brought on a whole new way of life for Austin and I. After 4 long months in the hospital (most of them in a tiny isolation room), Austin was finally discharged from the Bone Marrow Transplant/Immunology Unit at SickKids hospital!! Although we will spend a fair amount of time in the hospital clinic every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, we do have a taste of freedom while in semi-isolation at the Ronald McDonald House. Austin's immune system is still very weak, so he does not leave our room, except to go to clinic. This suits him just fine, because he really doesn't want to be exposed to any nasty viruses that would send him back into the hospital. Isn't there an old saying that prevention is the best medicine?
I am beginning to understand how this whole outpatient/clinic thing works.... and I don't much care for it. On Friday Austin went to clinic at around 10:30am to get a CBC (blood work) to check how his body was recovering from the four rounds of high-dose chemo he just completed. It wasn't surprising to hear that he would need another platelet transfusion, due to a critically low platelet count. Honestly, I have lost count of how many transfusions this will now be. The doctors have told me that platelets are the last thing to recover after a bone marrow transplant, so we are anxiously awaiting for Austin to begin producing his own platelets. Anyways, back to my little story. After waiting in clinic for 4 hours, we were told to make our way to the daycare centre where the transfusion would take place. We arrived at daycare to learn that the blood bank did not have platelets to send for Austin, and we ended up staying at the hospital until 9:30pm (when all was said and done). If you have been doing the math that is 11 hours in clinic, which makes for a really long day! Luckily, Austin's counts were great today, so it only took 4 hours in clinic today to let us know that. He will probably need to get another platelet transfusion this Wednesday, and the doctor told me Austin has been added to the outpatient single-donor list. Hopefully, there will be a fresh bag of platelets set aside for Austin's arrival to clinic on Wednesday. Of course, our hope is that he won't need another transfusion at all. If we have learned anything during the last 9 months here in Toronto - it is patience.
My dad arrived in Toronto on Saturday, after spending a few days in Longlac helping Scott prepare the house for Austin's arrival. I can't say exactly when we will go back home, but I anticipate spending a few more weeks here in Toronto before the doctors will allow Austin to leave for Longlac. Anyways, things are coming along with the house preparations. Our entire place has been striped of all carpets, the walls have been primed with disinfectant/sealer, the air exchange system has been cleaned with the filters changed, and all the rooms have been thoroughly cleaned. I also purchased an air purifier for Austin's room (although I am sure the air back home is much better than the smog that we breathe here in Toronto). Although the house doesn't look the greatest (I can only speculate, as I haven't seen it since March) it sure will be clean and the best environment for Austin - next to being back in a reverse isolation unit - that is. And hopefully he will never have to go back into one of those.

Now back to our brutal game of "Risk" world domination.