So it's the Monday of the week of transplant! Tom has been doing chemo for four days and in just four more days he'll be receiving his transplant!
I don't know that I've mentioned it before, but before Tom was diagnosed he was at work and not feeling very well and discussing it with a customer. It was shortly there after that Tom was diagnosed with leukemia and his work put out a canister asking for donations to help us along. This customer saw the can and went home that evening and told his wife that given the symptoms Tom had been having, he thought he may have leukemia. He did!!!! A different kind, but what a trip! What's more, he actually ended up having the same doctor as Tom and he just went home today after having had his bone marrow transplant (his was a sibling donor, so the process was much faster).
As mentioned in my last blog, there was a lot of anxiety for the both of us surrounding this hospital stay and procedure, etc. When we arrived Friday morning, we went to visit the guy I was discussing above and he literally leapt out of bed to show the doctor the back of his shirt he was wearing! He looked so good! He looked like he did before he went in all apart from having hair. ;P But it was really comforting. He only had a total of four "bad" days and they were due to mouth sores. While the doctor was there during our visit with him and continually replied, "It's different for everyone", and the gentleman would retort, "don't listen to the doc, it's a bunch of bs, it's not as bad as they say!" If nothing else, it was an entertaining conversation that provided a bit of relief.
That just adds one more person to the bill of people we know who've done fantastically, each doing better than the previous so now Tom's goal is to be out faster than the last guy. I think he can do it :) His goal is April 8th.
Tom was doing really well on the chemo, the first chemo drug is done every six hours for a total of sixteen doses!!!! He did not feel any side effects until about last night. This morning he was actually sick, but he's still able to eat and is up and around. The doctor said that it's normal for people to start to feel sick towards the last day of the first chemo drug (just merely from the accumulation of the drugs). He only has two more days of chemo and the next two days are one that we know makes him sick, but at least we know it will be over in two days and then he has a day off and then it's transplant day!!!! After that, no more poison!!! :) Things are looking well, keep up the good thoughts and prayers!
