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| Benya and dad on the lift, 7/2/15 |
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| Zev rides up |
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| Boys see snow in July |
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| Likin' it |
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| Yea, that was a bad idea. Wet butts in 3...2...1... |
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| During an obligatory snowball fight |
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| Riding down |
Monday, August 31, 2015
Still Day +382, some well overdue posts
Well over a month ago we spent several days at Sunriver, OR over the 4th of July. Among the swimming and watching the deer play in the woods, we drove up to Mt. Bachelor and rode the ski lift to the top:
Day +382
It has been long overdue, so here is an epic picture, taken on the 13th of August, 2013
Above you see Ryan donating his stem cells that would be flown to Portland and given to Zev the next day. Talk about blood brothers!
On August 14th of this year we made contact to mutual delight. Unfortunately Ryan was not able to join us at the Cape (more info and a few images to follow), but had a blast talking on the phone several times that day.
Turns out Ryan's brother Eric lives in Boston and Alla and I were treated to a brunch with our donor's brother.
We met the first member of our new family (they are stuck with us!) and many wonderful things about Ryan and Eric and their parents Linda and Keith. Can't wait to meet them all. And we are working on it. Mum for now.
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| Ryan Zimmerman, August 13, 2014 |
On August 14th of this year we made contact to mutual delight. Unfortunately Ryan was not able to join us at the Cape (more info and a few images to follow), but had a blast talking on the phone several times that day.
Turns out Ryan's brother Eric lives in Boston and Alla and I were treated to a brunch with our donor's brother.
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| August 23, 2015, at Newbury st |
Friday, August 14, 2015
Day +365, a.k.a. +1 year!
Today is a really good day. In order. Today is 1 year post transplant, a substantial milestone.
Then, we received information that the latest (11th) Chimerism test result showed 100% donor and the bone marrow looks great. Also, today is the last day, we G-D willing, that Zevi takes Acyclovir, the antiviral drug. So,
and Zev taking it
That's right, complete with Benjamin's butt in the picture and dad finger just barely obscuring the camera.
And speaking of donors: we spoke with ours today! Earlier today we received contact information for our wonderful donor, Ryan Zimmerman of Austin, Texas. We got a chance to speak on the phone, the first of many conversations, I am sure. We can't wait to arrange a meeting with Ryan and his family.
One epic day.
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| See that "+365"? F*ck, yeah! |
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| The last dose of it, G-D willing. 8/14/15 |
And speaking of donors: we spoke with ours today! Earlier today we received contact information for our wonderful donor, Ryan Zimmerman of Austin, Texas. We got a chance to speak on the phone, the first of many conversations, I am sure. We can't wait to arrange a meeting with Ryan and his family.
One epic day.
Day +365
It has arrived! Today is transplant anniversary!
To make things more exciting still, we now have our donor's information! Until we speak with him and confirm, I am going to refrain from posting any details here. We do hope to speak with this wonderful young man shortly. Please stand by!
In the mean time: last night we participated in the BeTheMatch telethon hosted by KATU TV station. Alla "volunteered" me to be on camera along with Zev, who acted perfectly until we started filming, and then he acted very much the mischievous kid. Before we went on we got to meet a nice gentleman, a future pediatrician, who was someone's donor earlier this year. Very call.
Following Zev's TV appearance we got a tour of the TV station, compliments of Patty Nieman of KATU News. Zev got to see the Director's booth while the broadcast was wrapping up, and then the news set.
and here is the link of Zevi and I on KATU2
To make things more exciting still, we now have our donor's information! Until we speak with him and confirm, I am going to refrain from posting any details here. We do hope to speak with this wonderful young man shortly. Please stand by!
In the mean time: last night we participated in the BeTheMatch telethon hosted by KATU TV station. Alla "volunteered" me to be on camera along with Zev, who acted perfectly until we started filming, and then he acted very much the mischievous kid. Before we went on we got to meet a nice gentleman, a future pediatrician, who was someone's donor earlier this year. Very call.
Following Zev's TV appearance we got a tour of the TV station, compliments of Patty Nieman of KATU News. Zev got to see the Director's booth while the broadcast was wrapping up, and then the news set.
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| Career path? |
and here is the link of Zevi and I on KATU2
http://www.katu.com/news/local/Daniel-Kaplan-talks-about-his-toddler-sons-bone-marrow-transplant-321837082.html
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Day +362
Yesterday was a very important day. Besides collecting the blood for the monthly Chimerim test, several other tests were run. Since we are coming up on the one year mark, Zev had a Bone Marrow Aspiration (biopsy-light) and and echo cardiogram to check on his heart. The procedure has gone well. The current blood numbers, i.e. hemoglobin, platelets, and white blood cells all look good. The echo looks great as well.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Day +356, Zevi in the news
I am glad to report things have been going well. Next week BeTheMatch is having a telethon in Oregon and as preparation for it it has teamed up with KATU news to run a few stories of bone marrow transplants. One of them was Zevi's.
http://www.katu.com/sponsored/
Two very nice folks from KATU came over and taped the boys playing and Alla and I speaking for a bit about the experience and about the transplant registry. The boys were a little milder than normal, I was prepared for a full-on brawl, but sounds like we got good footage of the boys, and especially Zevi, of course.
Naturally we taped the wrong channel when it actually was on TV, so it took a couple of days and some quick thinking from our friends and Dream Drives for Kids (thank you Chloe and Eric!) to get the link and post it.
http://www.katu.com/sponsored/
Two very nice folks from KATU came over and taped the boys playing and Alla and I speaking for a bit about the experience and about the transplant registry. The boys were a little milder than normal, I was prepared for a full-on brawl, but sounds like we got good footage of the boys, and especially Zevi, of course.
Naturally we taped the wrong channel when it actually was on TV, so it took a couple of days and some quick thinking from our friends and Dream Drives for Kids (thank you Chloe and Eric!) to get the link and post it.
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