We Made It Through... Radiation, Christmas, and 2016 |1-3-17|

Happy New Year!

Happy new immune system for Mike... coming soon!

Mike finished radiation on December 21st. He was handling it pretty well for the first several days. We thought, "This might not be so bad after all." We were wrong. It wasn't much fun at all. Mike wore out pretty quick from it, and the last half was hard for him. The main problem for him was extreme fatigue. He decided he wanted to travel back and forth from home to KC in between his appointments. He usually had a 7:30am treatment and a 2:30pm. He figured that laying in his own bed for 3-4 hours was better than sitting in the car or a waiting room for 5-6 hours. I couldn't blame him. So between the treatments, the early mornings, and the driving, he was wiped out. But he made it through and got to ring the bell to signify his treatment completion!

We had a very low-key Christmas and New Year. He has been avoiding going anywhere so he doesn't get sick before this transplant. He had tested positive for the cold virus several weeks ago, and they will test him again tomorrow to make sure it is gone. If it isn't, it will postpone the transplant.

As of right now, assuming we can keep him healthy for the next several days, the plan is for him to start BEAM chemo next Monday, the 9th. All of it will be outpatient, which is great! We will move into the Hope Lodge after his first dose of chemo on Monday. He will continue to go to the BMT Clinic everyday for chemo (twice a day for 4 of those days) and then on Monday, the 16th, he will get his stem cells that they collected last month transplanted back into him. From there, we will have another 2-3 week stay at the Hope Lodge until he is released to go home.

This is much more encouraging for us than the allo transplant, but I am still feeling anxious about all of it. The idea of being away from our kids is the hardest part. I know in the grand scheme of things, it will just be a little blip in time. It will be worth it. BUT. my babies.

Can you believe a year ago today I was driving Mike and I up to Rochester, Minnesota? Hoping we would be able to get in to see a doctor at Mayo the next day. So nervous and scared because we had no clue what to expect. I was listening to an audio book (Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Powell)  for most of the drive, and Mike was sleeping. He felt so terrible. I was so clueless as to how 2016 was going to play out for us. Isn't that what's so great about a new year? There's so much hope. We are so lucky we can't see into the future. The good things are wonderful surprises, and the bad things happen without much warning. I can't imagine if I had known ahead of time how hard the year was going to be. How many ups and downs there would be.

Have I said before how much I believe in "taking it one day at a time"? I thought so.

So here we are, starting 2017, hoping for a better year. Being glad I can't foresee the future. We'll take it one day at a time, and keep rolling along like we have been.

While I have your attention, (unless I lost you a long time ago), could you send my friends an extra positive thought, or prayer, or vibe, or whatever your thing is? You know the friends I wrote the last post to? I remember my mom telling me that she had been telling people what was going on with Mike before we were sure if we were ready to "spread the word". She said to me, "Your Grandma says we should tell everyone we can, because the more prayers, the better." And that has stuck with me. Why suffer in silence or battle things on your own when you can have more prayers. More LOVE on your side. So my point is, our friends could use all the power of all the things on their side.

Thanks for being awesome at loving us. We feel it.

XOXO

Robin