What a wonderful day! It's Engraftment Day! That means Maggie's Neutrophil count has been over 500 for three consecutive days, and that's a huge milestone! From Bethematch.org

Neutrophil engraftment

A CBC test counts the number of neutrophils in your bloodstream. An absolute neutrophil count (ANC) of 500 or more for 3 days in a row is a sign of engraftment. This means that the blood test shows 500 or more neutrophils in a cubic millimeter of blood. Neutrophil engraftment can occur as early as 10 days after transplant. About 20 days is more common for patients who receive marrow or peripheral (circulating) blood cells. For patients who receive cord blood, the average time to neutrophil engraftment is between 21 and 35 days.

From Maggie's grandmother describing yesterday

Maggie's ANC was 573 this morning. Another count over 500 tomorrow and she will be officially engrafted! She had a good hemoglobin count this morning and good platelets thanks to last nights transfusion.

We are still dealing with nausea which is odd because she had been fine up until the other night and now she needs zofran every 8 hours on the dot or she's got her face in a bucket. She woke up crying and threw up this morning.

They are also walking a delicate line with her fluids. She is not peeling enough to equal as much fluid she is taking in and she's swollen and her weight is up..however her labs show she is dehydrated. Basically her capillaries are 'leaky' meaning the extra fluid leaks out of her vessels, so it's not really where it's supposed to be. They say they see this in almost all transplant kids and as the body recovers it will correct itself. She may need lasix tomorrow but they didn't want to give it to her today. They also did a bladder scan today to make sure she wasn't retaining urine and not able to pass it..but it seems like all is working ok there.

She was playful today and had fun decorating cookies thanks to the supplies her awesome nurse brought in. We had hoped it would encourage her to eat but no such luck. She did have about 3 ounces of Gatorade by mouth which is the first thing she's had to drink in a couple weeks. Baby steps! They said she will probably be discharged on TPN and fluids and that's ok.

We stopped her vancomycin today and they continue to wean her off morphine. All steps in the right direction.

Thank you for your continued support and prayers/love!!

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!

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