Monday, August 31, 2015

Day +382

It has been long overdue, so here is an epic picture, taken on the 13th of August, 2013
Ryan Zimmerman, August 13, 2014
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.
August 23, 2015, at Newbury st
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.

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.
See that "+365"?  F*ck, yeah!
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,
The last dose of it, G-D willing.   8/14/15
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.

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.

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/bethematch/Be-The-Match-Zev-Kaplan-320350821.html?tab=video&c=y

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.

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Day +331

Ahead of the weekend I am happy to report that the tenth Chimerism test came in 100% donor!  Have a great weekend, everyone!

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Day +326

Hope everyone's 4th of July was fun.  For us it was a week spent at Sunriver, OR - a high altitude plateau resort village, close to Mt. Bachelor.  The boys swam, mostly.  With life preserve jackets the boys are both fully independent in the water.  They also gamely tormented (in descending order of torment level) their cousins Paul, Felix, and Rafi.  Extra points go to Felix who has shown unprecedented maturity by taking charge of a house of four younger cousins and allowing the adults a few minutes to eat and drink.  Alla and I slept and had a few nights off, both compliments of Grandma Rita and Grandpa Tolya.

At home things continue to move along.  The boys have started weekly swimming lessons and seem to enjoy them.  The week before the trip to Sunriver Zevi had the monthly checkup.  The appointment went fine, the blood numbers are good.  As always, we await the results of the next Chimerism test with trepidation.  In the mean time, a few images.

Reading the morning paper at the coffee shop, 6/29/15

Check this out, bro!

Hmm, what to do next?  (this is when the staff get nervous)


These were taken at the 4th of July parade:
Zevi, climbing on.

Conquered!

Monday, June 8, 2015

Day +298

The last few days have brought news, all good I am pleased to report.

On Friday the results of the 9th Chimerism test came in, and, once again, 100% donor.  The very welcome news came right in time for the boys' 4th birthday which we celebrated on Saturday.  It was a hot day, but the party went great.  The balloons, the soccer, some beer, two cakes, a lot of lovely gifts and even lovelier wishes.

Some extra excitement came late in the party, compliments of Benjamin's bunny that, once again, went AWOL.  The escape prompted two late night drives to the park and even brief searches through the garbage at the party site.  Turns out the bunny was enjoying a sleepover with geed friends of ours who kindly returned him to us the next day.

Sunday was a much more mellow day with the boys (mostly) peacefully sharing the new toys.  It was an important weekend, and a good one.

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Day +292, getting ice cream

All the best things in life: a car with guns on it, a dinosaur that is a transformer, stickers, ice cream, candy, and some brownies.  What else is there?
6/2/15

Monday, June 1, 2015

Day +291. Good checkup, first day of daycare for Zevi

In chronological order.

On Friday the monthly checkup went very well, thank G-D.  The blood numbers are good and doctor approved of everything she saw.  We also could not be happier.  Of course, we now await results of the Chimerims test and hoping, as always, for the right result.

The weekend was spent mostly in parks.  On Saturday we all partook in a spontaneous game of soccer, most of it kids versus adults.  The rules and team rosters were fluid, the score fractional, if not outright imaginary, but fun was universal.  Benjamin and Zev mostly stayed off the field (due to being much lighter than even the kid players), but did wonder in a few times to score goals of their own and, a few times, add randomness to the game by knocking over the goals themselves.

play ball! 5/30/15


On Sunday we all (small Russian invasion) descended on a park (thank you, aunt Vika for putting this together!)  We ate, we played, we avoided an ornery sprinkler.  The boys got very excited, had great fun, and did not nap until the ride back from the park, at 5:30 pm.  In the end, the were bathed and asleep by 9.  All and all - a good weekend.
late in the day, watching a cartoon with dad 5/31/15


Monday was the first day of Zevi being in daycare.  He was in a class different from Benjamin's - otherwise neither of them would learn - and did very well!  Even though his English is limited for now, just as we expected Zevi had no trouble communicating.  As the teacher informed Alla, at one point he said something which no one understood.  He then grabbed his crotch and clearly indicated what he needed.  Zevi then proceeded to do his business into the toilet like a champ.

Two knights 6/1/15


I will add pictures to this post later tonight.  hang in.