Good morning Lori!
Thanks for checking in. We are at day -1 today! Tomorrow is our 19th wedding anniversary AND my husband’s second birthday! The transplant is scheduled for 3pm. The chaplain here will be giving a blessing and I hope to sneak a little slow dance in with him when we have a few minutes to ourselves. So our odyssey continues! He is stable at the moment. The only hitch has been some high blood pressure readings but he has also had a lot of fluids and Busulfan and Fludarabine “clean out” chemo. Today he started Tacrolimus and Methotrexate starts day +1.

I expect the next week or so to be rough for him so I’m trying to relax into that and know the team here has tools to help him through it. Plus I will be here to help him be as comfortable as possible.
Renting an apartment a few blocks away has been a life saver for me. I’m doing his laundry every day and able to get out for walks instead of spending 2 hours in traffic from home in the morning and evening.
This remains surreal to me. Every now and then I feel stunned that this is our reality and I know the same is true for him. But we are resilient and are adapting.

I decorated his room with photos of our family and friends. I hung hummingbird decals on his windows and I am bringing a Happy Anniversary and a Happy Birthday sign to hang in the room. All little ways of staying positive and bringing a little cheer. The summer sunlight and longer days sure does help too.

Wishing you joy and the best of health as you near your stem cell transplant anniversary!! 🙏

Mary