Today is our 4^th anniversary and wow has life changed since 2005!  Our marriage has definitely started on a different course than most but that's okay.  We had Drew early on in our marriage and it was a roller coaster both in the NICU and out.  I probably don't need to go into detail, needless to say life was pretty tough back then.  Life was also challenging when Drew was discharged from the NICU.  As newlyweds we had to juggle the frequent NG feedings, oxygen, heart monitors, medications, doctors appointments, and therapy appointments.  We had to do this all on our own because we had just moved to Chicago to jump start our careers.

We've been home for about one week and have been drilling everyone with what they thought of Drew's progress.  Both of Drew's grandmothers felt that his hands were more relaxed than usual.  I remember thinking the same thing after our first trip but then within a couple months his hands tightened back up again.  Also, both grandmothers noticed that Drew is talking considerably more.  He can now combine a few syllabels to form a few words like "bug" and "bus."  It's funny that he started doing this because he started saying these words before his first stem cell treatment in the beginning of April.  Dianne, Drew's speech pathologist, taught him this on the plane ride over.  In case you missed some of the earlier blog posts, she flew with us to China and spent a couple of weeks with us helping out with Drew.

The biggest news I have however pertaining to Drew's speech is that he has been able to say "ma ma" on request.  He's been able to "ma ma" once in a great while over the past couple of years but we think it was due to accident.  However, for the past few consecutive days he has been able to say "ma ma" when we ask him to.  Go Drew!

We are home sweet home after 42 days abroad.  We are extremely grateful for all of the great care that Drew received while at the Xiaoshan hospital in Zhejiang.  The staff treated us like family and we already miss them like crazy.  We feel blessed that this treatment is available and that we were able to take our son over twice.  I'll give our parents a few days to make their own assessments to see if they notice any differences with Drew's overall ability.  Drew's physical therapist, Minnie, will also be seeing him on Wednesday for the first time since we've been home, so I will be sure to write updates for everyone.

While at the hospital Dr. Tony told us that Drew was still going through "the adjustment" period and that he suspected that we will notice improvements in 3 to 6 months.  After our first trip, Mike and I really started to notice improvements one month after his last SCT in August.  His explosive vomitting started to diminish slowly.  His oral motor control really started to improve too.  We were still seeing improvements in these categories when we returned in April this year, about 7 months later.  We met another family on their third trip to Hangzhou from England for there 2 year old daughter with CP.  They noticed that their daughter had a lot more gains the second time around.  Overall, we noticed there were several families who had already received stem cell treatments in the past and were back for another round.

Drew received his final stem cell treatment via IV on friday.  Everything went very smoothly and he only complained while the IV was being placed.  After the needle is removed he always likes to oversee the application of the tape.  When the nurse removed the IV on Saturday, he was also very calm, cool, and collective.  He likes to watch the tape and tegaderm peeled away.  He also likes to watch the nurses remove the hep lock and he always cranes his neck around to watch wear it will thrown out.  Then he definately makes sure that we apply pressure on the site with a cotton ball.  Since we went through this 8 times, the little rat definately had the routine down and he likes to rule the roost when he could.

This particular treatment was very interesting because there were so many different nationalities in one room.  There was a little boy from Wales with his mother who is also Welsh but her husband is Australian.  There was another mother and son from America but she was born in Jamaica.  Also, there was another little boy from Sweden but his father was from Spain.  The patient coordinator from Beike, Luca Ricci, was from Italy.  The nurses were Chinese.  Then finally the three of us from America but Drew likes it better when I say we are from planet stinky.