BMT Details

So we are pedal to the metal around here getting ready for the BMT. Stanford had a bunch of tests that we had to get done this week in order to start the the BMT next week. Luckily it had been planned months ago that the kids would go to Aunt Kathy's house for the week so it has been really easy for us to come and go as we please only taking care of our own needs.
I have been feeling really good for the last couple of days. Pretty much the best I have felt in a long time.
Today we went in for a bone marrow biopsy. Not fun. First they numb you up with lidacane Then they stick a needle in your back right at the crest of your hip bone and bust through the bone and into the marrow and pull out a little chunk. The lidacane works for everything except when they hit the bone and the marrow and then it hurts. It went pretty well. I actually walked in to the appointment and walked all the way out as well. First time I have done without the wheel chair in a long time and it felt really good to be under my own power.

Tomorrow I have to go back down for a pulmonary function test. Not sure how that works. I have a feeling I would have got high scores this time last year though. I go back on Friday for my regular once a month Chemo session. Not looking forward to that but it is part of the deal.

Next week I have a couple of meetings scheduled down at Stanford. It is a 3.5 hour drive if the traffic is not bad. If it is bad.... It could be really ugly. Then the BMT process begins the first part of the week after next. I say process because that is what it is. I have an overnight in the hospital where they give me a chemo injection. Then I am turned loose for a couple of weeks where I give my self a daily injections of a white blood cell booster. Then I go back when the time is right to have the bone marrow and stem cells removed from my blood. That takes a couple of days and then I go home and rest for two weeks. Then that process starts over again.

It wont be until late August that I actually get the bone marrow transplant. At that point what they really are doing is giving me a lethal dose of chemo drugs with the idea of killing all of the bad cancer cells. Then they rescue me with the stem cells that they took out earlier. At that point I am in special clean medical apartments provided by Stanford. My immunity will be non-existent. I'll spend at least a month in there with the help of my mom (Granny) if not longer that all depends on how I recover.
If everything goes perfectly I will be symptom free at the end of that process. I will take another couple of months (they say 3-6) to recover. At the end of that I am really looking forward to going back to my normal life. Starting work again. Riding my bike. Roughhousing with my kids cuddling with my wife.
I have a feeling that this is the beginning of the end. We'll see.