@gagathemom you’re post says it all for me as well. I hear so frequently that we are in good health but have blood cancer. The struggle is to focus on the now - experience life without the cancer cloud over shadowing. Thank you for your post!

Good morning, @gagathemom “You’ve got this!” It’s interesting how those words can either give someone a nudge or completely turn them off. The night I was admitted to the hospital, having been diagnosed that afternoon with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the nurses brought me a rather large gift bag. The bag had been put together for them by a former patient who had AML with the instructions to give this bag to a new patient…me.
Inside were a number of items including a hand made fleece neck warmer, a lap-sized fleece blanket, adult coloring book with a box of colored pencils, Burt’s Bees chap stick/hand lotion, cute little socks. The gift tag, which I still use as a bookmark 7 years later, said, “Stay Strong. Stay Positive! You’ve got this!!”
Being absolutely cut off at the knees with the diagnosis that afternoon, those words resonated with me! They still do and as a mentor in the Blood Cancer and also the Bone marrow/stem cell transplantation groups, I find myself using those words to encourage others. All of us have within us the ability for, “You’ve got this”, to handle whatever it takes to keep us alive, inspired and moving forward. (But I promise not to say it to you! 😅)

You’re going to be in excellent care with your SCT team at Mayo-Rochester as you’ve already found out. That was my home away from home for 4 months. Your autologous (ASCT) stem cell transplant, fortunately won’t require that length of time but you will be there a month or so while you recover. Being fiercely independent myself, I completely empathize with your struggle with requiring a caregiver! But once you’re actually underway with the transplant recovery, I’m pretty sure you’ll find yourself relaxing into the assistance during the moments when you need it most. After that, your drive for independence will help you recover faster by the desire to get back to normal. In the meantime, accept the help with the daily mundane tasks. That way your energy is reserved so you can take a shower without assistance, get dressed, etc. Having assistance helps you pace yourself because the fatigue the first couple of weeks will sap your strength.
I think what you’ll miss most during recovery, are snuggles from your grandkids! But they can send you cards, you can face-time or Zoom and that time will go quickly!

Do you have any questions about the transplant itself? Are you set with longterm lodging in Rochester?

@gagathemom The words “you’ve got it” coming from people who had never experienced what you are going through sounds to me like “quit complaining, you will be fine “. It sounds very different when it comes from a person who had experienced it.

As someone who had a SCT for AML, I think your general good health will give you an extra boost as you have your transplant. Using your own cells also means that you won’t have GVHD and your recovery will be quicker than mine was.

Wishing you an uncomplicated transplant and recovery!