The Main Event
The donor has been secured, the transplant date is set, and I’m off to MSK tomorrow to begin my month-long study in isolation.
My day will begin with a last minute scramble to pack all of the belongings I think I will need for my stay. Comfy clothes, my favorite throw blanket, iPhone speaker and charger, laptop, notebooks, chemo caps, a package of Tates, eye masks and ear plugs FOR SURE.
I didn’t think I’d make it through the first few weeks at Methodist when they told me I had to stay a month, but I did. This time I really will be there at least a month, but Scarlett O’Hara as my witness, I will never be admitted for that long again.
So Monday I will get a Hickman catheter instead of a PICC. This will go in my chest rather than my arm and will have three lumens (whoo hoo!).
Full body irradiation starts Tuesday (with three visits to the creepy machine I’ve already seen the first three days then a mere two the final day). That’s followed by four days intense intravenous biotoxins (i.e. chemo). Then a day of rest!
D Day is October 22 when the cells kindly donated to me by an anonymous 21-year old woman out there, somewhere, are fed into one of the lumens of my catheter and begin their journey to my bones. The grafting process should take a few weeks, then maybe, if I’m not suffering from a stupid infection, I will be discharged a month after I set foot in the door.
And then, hopefully, I am on my way to growing a new immune system.
Oh, and I still have to get my taxes done before the extension deadline next week. No stress.
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