There has been so much happening that I’ve had trouble figuring out where to start. So I’ll start with something that felt really good: laughing with my bestie.
Anna came to Houston for work and stayed an extra day to hang out with me. We went to dinner, hung out on the rooftop of my apartment building and belly laughed all night. It felt so good to just shoot the shit like nothing else was happening. I love being able to be so comfortable with someone that you guys can just settle right back into being yourselves.
She also brought me some phenomenal scarves as a group gift from my girl gang back in Richmond. Apparently, if I’m going to be bald, my friends are going to make sure I’m keepin’ it sylish. 🥰 I love you girls.
Meanwhile, my sister has been busy making stem cells. And apparently she decided to make enough to really prove a point.
She received two injections in her belly each day for three days before her first collection on Thursday. The collection required her to lay still for 4 hours because she had a massive needle in one arm and an IV in the other. That initial collection yielded 1 million stem cells, short of the 4 million they wanted. So they gave her a big-gun shot, a day of rest, and another 4 hours of grueling collection on Saturday.
You guys, she produced THIRTEEN MILLION stem cells that day!!!!
She has always said she doesn’t like to be an underachiever and that first day really got to her 😂. Watching this process has been wild. Knowing that those cells came from my sister and that they are going to be given to me to save my life is still a lot to wrap my head around and the whole process was emotional for both of us. She finally got to go home to her babies today. But we got in one last important celebration first.
Saturday was Caroline’s 10th birthday, and since my sister knew she would still be here in Houston, we decided to fly Caroline and Anna Chase to Houston! They arrived on Friday, and we introduced them to our city girl life and shopped til we dropped (safely distanced) ❤️.
My mom also arrived the same day to spend the weekend with us, and she’ll take over as my caretaker for the this week until we figure out what is next. There are a lot of moving parts and plans seem to change each week, but I am so grateful for everyone helping make them work.
On the treatment front, I’ve finished my third round of chemo. The goal of this round was to keep me in remission while we get everything ready for transplant. My next bone marrow biopsy is Thursday, and that will tell us whether this round was successful.
My counts are beginning to fall, which is expected, but so far I haven’t needed any transfusions. In the meantime, I’m continuing to check off all the boxes of pre-transplant testing and getting closer to the next step.
There is so much happening at once, chemo, biopsies, testing, stem cells, caregivers coming and going, birthdays, nieces, scooters, and rooftop laughter. In the middle of all of this chaos, there are still so many really beautiful moments. I’m trying to notice them, hold onto them, and remain grateful for all of the people helping carry me toward transplant.
