Team Maggie Update Day 18

Yesterday was a momentous occasion in that it was considered engraftment day. That's a real positive step in a patient's  bone marrow transplant journey. In essence, the bone marrow transplant is now considered a success once "engraftment" has occurred.

But, there are ups and downs in the journey, and unfortunately, yesterday was a little bit of a downer day, although you couldn't tell given the beautiful picture of Maggie on Saturday, August 10th

Maggie  is still having stomach pain/cramping and been very nauseous. She's on zofran every 8 hours again and threw up 3 times yesterday. Saturday night was so-so. She is still nauseous, but they have added a second medication to combat that, and according to mom, she had a good night's sleep Saturday night into Sunday morning. Maggie had a dressing change that was awful Saturday.

On top of that we are having issues with one of the lumens on her broviac catheter. It wont give blood return and will barely flush. Once her med runs they are going to hep-lock it and see if they can get it flowing better.

She's still very swollen and is positive over a liter of fluid. Because she's not in any distress with this we are leaving it and giving lasix today with her platelets to help pull off some of this fluid. She will get lasix sooner if she has any concerning signs. Her weight is up almost a full kilo from 48 hours ago and that's all fluid weight so you can imagine how uncomfortable that might be.

And let's not forget Superhero Lucas! Here's Dad Andy with Lucas in front of the Levant Corner Store

Just a couple of reminders.

Mark your calendar for Monday, August 19th, because that night will be a Team Maggie Night at Miguel’s Mexican Restaurant on the Hogan Road in Bangor. They will be donating 10 percent of all the dinner sales to Team Maggie, and there will be a 50/50 raffle. If you would like to help with the planning, please call Chris Popper at 941-1994 or email me at chris.popper@townsquaremedia.com

Maggie turns 5 on August 19th. She will be in the hospital still on her birthday. If you’d like to send a card or a gift, her address is

BMT Unit Floating 6
Attention: Maggie Rudnicki
750 Washington Street
Boston, MA 02111

I asked Maggie’s mom what she likes and this is Lauren’s reply

“She loves the Boston bruins, lip gloss and scary things (ghost stories, vampires, goosebumps books etc) those are a few favorites but honestly just well wishes are all she needs!”

Please keep praying. Prayers do work! They’ve made those little white cells grow, and those white blood cells are what’s making Maggie feel so good. The change in in the past week has been nothing short of miraculous!  Pray for a peaceful day and weekend ahead.   Pray for a sense of calmness for Maggie, Lauren and the entire Rudnicki family. Pray that those white blood cells continue to grow, and grow quickly!  Pray for healing, pray for strength! Pray that they can be discharged to the Neely House soon!

You can make a donation to help defray the medical and travel costs associated with Maggie’s care. Maggie has been down in Boston for over 4 weeks. If you want to make a donation, click HERE for the details

We now have over 100 photos of Team Maggie support up on the site. If you want to send your picture, you can upload it HERE or just click HEREto view them all.Please note, if you do upload them, they don’t appear instantly, as we are moderating all pictures, just to insure appropriate content. You can also send me your pictures directly at chris.popper@townsquaremedia.com.

More later. Keep the faith Team Maggie!