@ loribmt and @katgob
Thank you both so much for your responses and encouragement! It is good to know that you are there if I am fortunate enough to receive this treatment. I realize that the process of finding a donor match to the actual stem cell collection can be challenging. It is a good daily lesson in trust and patience for me 🙂.

You both are great role models in this community and it has been so helpful to follow your posts and continue to learn about this incredible process. Fascinating about the Y chromosome @katgob and @loribmt I smile when I think about some of your descriptions of your chimerism 🙂. I agree that the BMT itself and how our bodies are capable of responding to this procedure is fascinating.

My donor search started mid-September and the nurse emailed me the next day to say there were some really good potential matches in the registry. I have not heard anything further so trying to be patient and trust that this will happen for me. It is so good to hear @katgob that your matches were found so quickly! I did get my welcome packet from the NMDP (aka the club that no one aspires to join as a recipient lol). My best friend and I were trying to come up with an appropriate theme song for the NMDP recipient club 🙂.

I do agree that positive attitude, effort, hope, and humor are so important on this strange journey - I will add self forgiveness as well for the times when I don’t quite reflect those other qualities 🥴. MCC has been a great resource in reminding me how fortunate my journey has been and of the strength we all carry within us.

Thank you both again for your support and encouragement. I will keep you posted as this progresses. 🙏🙏🙏