@upnorth94, Hah, well, I don’t know that I’m incredible…I’ve been called a lot of things but never that. 😂. But I do have a fair amount of knowledge about the BMT process which I am happy to share with others.

Having gone through AML treatments, along with a bone marrow transplant, at the time I had never met anyone who had gone through either. About 1.5 months after my transplant I met two people who had been on my same journey…but they were 2 years and 5 years post transplant. Meeting them was the first time I felt a glimmer of hope that there would be normalcy in my life again. Being able to speak with someone who has walked the walk can make all the difference in the world.

So consider me a lifeline for you, along with my fellow BMT posse members here. We have your back. We didn’t all have ours transplants at Mayo so some of the stories aren’t quite the same, with some small variances in protocal. But the main premise and the recovery stories will be the same. So whatever we can do to help, let us know.

As far as hotels, we stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn on Center Street in Rochester. It’s two blocks from the hotel. That was over 6 years ago, but we still stay there when we return for follow-up appointments. The rates have increased quite a bit since then as you can imagine. They’ve also upgraded all the rooms recently. But for a long term stay it was ideal for us. Made it into our home away from home. The rate was reduced a bit because long term they didn’t have to turnover the room so often, and we didn’t need maid service daily. As mentioned before, we leased the suite month to month, avoiding the county room tax. This was from the suggestion of the hotel manager.

You have a lot to digest as this next chapter in your life unfolds. I know it can feel overwhelming just trying to imagine the logistics. But little by little it all comes together. Do you live far from Rochester?