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Admitted to the hospital

We arrived in Houston on Wednesday afternoon (October 28) after a white knuckle drive from Denver.  The combination of ice packed roads in Colorado / New Mexico and torrential rain in Texas turned the 15 hour drive into over 18.

Following another negative COVID test and consultations with my leukemia and transplant doctors, the time had come to check to the hospital.  On Halloween, three weeks later than originally planned, I was admitted to the hospital.  Since there wasn’t a specific check in time and this first day was “hydration day”, we decided to have a couple beers, watch some college football in the hotel and check in later in the evening. 

The hospital room is very nice, with a separate pull out bed for Connie, a window with a view of the old Houston Astrodome and new NRG Stadium, and plenty of room for our stuff.  And we brought plenty of stuff including lots of food and our coffee making set up.  I have the vision, call it hope, that I will be on the fast track and be discharged in just 3-4 weeks.  But it could be longer so my new mantra is simply to take it one day at a time.

The doctors refer to the timeline of the stem cell transplant around “Day 0” which is the day I’ll have the donor stem cells infused.  For me, Day 0 will be Friday November 6th.   In preparation, I’ll go through a chemotherapy regime referred to as “conditioning” which will take my immune system down close to zero to prepare for its replacement with the donor’s immune system.  I’ll specifically go through a regimen called “reduced intensity conditioning” on Sunday through Wednesday (Day -5 thru -2).

The donor cells were collected on October 7th through a procedure call Apheresis which harvests the donor stem cells from his peripheral blood. They are now safely frozen here in Houston until my Day 0.  I can’t express how thankful I am for my donor and can’t wait to meet him some day.

Let the adventure begin,

Gary


Comments

  1. JeffNovember 2, 2020 at 6:36 AM

    Good you made it back to Houston. Hope the first phase of the process goes well

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nort PetrovichNovember 2, 2020 at 8:17 AM

    Gary so glad to hear you got to Houston with no incidents on the roads. This early winter has hit all the way from the Canadian border to Texas! We are thinking of you and believing that all will go well, as your vision foretells. All our love, Nort and Susan

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownNovember 2, 2020 at 10:02 AM

    Let the healing begin! We are praying for you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sharon SeemannNovember 4, 2020 at 10:07 AM

    Always remember, you are braver than you think, stronger than you seem, and loved more than you know.

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownNovember 4, 2020 at 12:22 PM

    Our love to you both. No one is better equipped to make it through this than the two of you.

    ReplyDelete

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