Transplant day, or as the staff here calls it "my new birthday," went well. It was really uneventful, and I am relieved to have achieved this step in the healing journey. The transplant process was scheduled for 3:30 in the afternoon because it had to be 72 hours after my last chemo treatment. Everything about this process had already been well-thought out and mathematically calculated! My mom and Aunt Lisa drove up for the day, arriving around 10:30. They were able to go

Today is my fifth day as an admitted patient at Northwestern Hospital, but it is considered Day -2 because I'm two days from my stem cell transplant infusion. On my admission day, I was reconnected with Colleen, a Stem Cell Nurse Practitioner whom I'd met in July when I thought I'd be following the original plan. Colleen apparently came back early from vacation time because I was being admitted! Colleen went over my current health situation and then told me that all of my

This wooden sculpture (easily six to seven feet high) is in the floor level lobby of the Hyatt Centric, the hotel in which our family has been staying while in Chicago. This saying reminds me of the line in the hymn "Great is Thy Faithfulness" which is "...Morning by morning new mercies I see"! This update covers three topics...but you may want to skip ahead to the second one, because it is the most exciting of all! Last week's trip to Chicago: I had several appointments at

Since the last update, everything has gone according to plan, thankfully. My last few days in the hospital were uneventful and predictible. With all of the down time, Mom and I completed three puzzles, we tried a new pizza restaurant - Robert's Pizza and Dough Company, and revisited a few other restaurants to try new items (most notably, Gotham Bagel). Mom walked to Navy Pier two days in a row as well. Dad drove back to Chicago on Monday, July 27th, arriving just ahead of

On Saturday morning, Mom and I took a morning walk along the lake ahead of my re-admission to the hospital. I am fully aware, now, that I looked 100% like a tourist because of my t-shirt and hat. The hat was a necessary purchase - I did not anticipate having seven days to be outside in the sun when I was packing for this trip! Chemo is underway! I had a smooth re-admission into Northwestern on Saturday afternoon, July 18th. That evening I received my first doses of each of

This is another long post on several different topics. If you receive an email alert when I post updates, please read until the very end! I haven't started chemo yet. At the end of our last episode, I was hoping to receive the results of my bone marrow biopsy so that chemo could begin. Friday morning, July 10th, Dr. Dinner and her leukemia team came into my room for rounds, informing my parents and me that if the results didn't come back by midday, then they wouldn't be bac

Today I learned a lesson about how my wishes and plans for the future are not always God's plans for me. At 7:45 am, Dr. Moreira, the transplant doctor currently presiding on this floor, came into my room - I was still sleeping! In my bleary state, he informed me that the majority of the biopsy results had been received, and my "blast" percentage was 10%. Blasts are young, immature white blood cells that can develop into functioning blood cells. In my case, they become the

Well, where did we leave off? Oh, yes, I was packing and waiting! Monday morning I sent an email to Stacie, my transplant coordinator, at 6:15, letting her know I still had not received any information regarding the bone marrow biopsy results and their potential effect on the transplant schedule. She replied around 9 am to say she was putting pressure on the staff in Dr. Mehta's office to find out results, but that she was not overly surprised we would be cutting it close d

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! Today has been spent packing...then resting a bit...then packing...and repeating. I thought I was somewhat prepared for all I think I need to take to Chicago. When I began actually putting things in bags and totes and suitcases, I realized that everything may not fit into my parents' vehicle if the three of us, plus my parents' belongings, want to fit as well. That will be a problem to figure out tomorrow! As of this moment, 5:

A few people have asked how they can stay in touch with me while I'm in Chicago, so here are the options: Cards and/or anything mailed: please use my home mailing address; my family will continue to pick up my mail at my post office, and it will be brought to me as soon as possible. I receive a daily email from the USPS in which I can see what is being delivered in my mailbox each day, so I will have a heads up that items will eventually be delivered to me! My mailing addre

Ed, Joy, and I made it to Chicago last evening after a little bit of rush hour “slow down.” We easily found our hotel, then walked around the hospital campus to orient ourselves for our appointments. We ate supper at Tallboy Taco (and no, Ed didn’t choose it because he is tall and likes tacos!) - the food was delicious but we received inconsistent service! Overall, our appointment day (today) went well, but for me, could've been a bit better. I finally got to meet my transp

The picture I've selected for today's post is one that I took of abundant lavender while visiting Ireland ten years ago this week. I chose to use a photo of "purple" flowers for this update as a tribute to my Grandma Kay Schwarting, who passed away on June 18th. Our family and her friends said goodbye to her yesterday... and I want to thank all who came to her service/visitation or who have sent cards or messages. I get overwhelmed when I think of the support we have receiv

As the transplant timeline approaches, I thought it would be interesting for many of you to know more about this process. If you have Googled "bone marrow transplant" - as I did - you will find what is planned for me is different than what is described online. On Tuesday, June 30th, Ed and I will have several appointments at Northwestern. We will drive up the day before so Ed can get started at 8:30 am with his appointments which will check his overall health ahead of donat

It has been a quiet week since my last update, but that is a positive! After a few days of waiting for communication between my oncologist and my transplant doctor, I was able to begin a five day regimen of infusion chemo on Thursday. My platelets are not near the "required" number of 75, but apparently that was not a big enough reason to cancel this round of chemo altogether. After two days of infusions, I am very, very tired, but that seems to be the only side effect.

Life Updates I'm afraid I don't have anything as exciting to report as my last update, but that is actually a good thing! My blood counts have remained more stable over the last week and a half, which means a long stretch without getting blood or platelet transfusions and overall, feeling better and much more like myself. Some little annoying issues linger, but since my blood counts are still not in a typical, normal range, my body still isn't healing itself very well. Yest

Yesterday, both Ed and I were informed that he is a 100% match to be my bone marrow donor! This means the transplant process is being scheduled, and we should have a timeline soon! This is such a relief for many reasons! We are still not sure why the odds of sibling matches are so low - 25% - but at this point it doesn't matter! Ed will have to undergo preliminary health testing prior to his bone marrow donation. He will also have to be at Northwestern about a week into m

Thursday (oncologist appt and other appts) and Friday (trip to Chicago) were physically, mentally, and emotionally draining. I was thankful that Saturday (yesterday as I write this) was a low key day. I spent a lot of time resting as well as managed to shower and wash my hair without incident! I was also thankful I had an appointment at 7:30 on Sunday morning to get another unit of blood and another unit of platelets to get me through the long weekend. I'm also thankful my

Sadly, this is one of the only photos I took today in Chicago, but it does represent the fact that we needed just under three hours to arrive at this parking deck! (I also don't know why my photos are not clear.) We did not have any delays on our drive and were able to easily rely on GPS to get us there. Thank you to my friend, Judith, for the pro tip to enter the parking deck address, not the hospital address, as our destination! The building in which all of my appointmen

I think today's appointment can best be described as "it went well" but my mom and I still left feeling a bit underwhelmed. The complete biopsy results are not back yet since my most recent biopsy was just a week ago - full results do take longer. However, Dr. Liu was "encouraged" by the early results she could see. No, we still don't know if the cancer is in remission, but the other numbers are headed in the right direction, apparently. Dr. Liu also reviewed the April bi

My current prayer requests are as follows: Thursday, May 21st, I will have a meeting with my oncologist to learn results of the latest biopsy. Please pray this biopsy result is clearer than the previous ones. Please pray the biopsy shows the leukemia is in remission (required for the transplant). Please pray that I will not need to endure another round of chemo. Friday, May 22nd, my parents and I will go to Northwestern Hospital in Chicago to meet with the transplant doctor,