First, a giant thank you for the extraordinarily generous response to my last post! We received a steady stream of Amazon deliveries and emails with DoorDash & gas gift cards. (My neighbors probably suspected that I’d developed a serious online shopping addiction given how frequently delivery trucks appeared in front of our house.) Danny and I saved up all the deliveries and opened them together one afternoon, like a spontaneous Christmas morning!
The above photo isn’t even everything! Suffice to say, we are stocked up on all the supplies and accoutrement needed to support Danny during his post-transplant recovery. Our gratitude for you and your kindness is overflowing.
We are also exceeding grateful that we are now just days away from the transplant. Next Tuesday, May 23, Danny will be the proud recipient of a bunch of new stem cells that will perform a coup d’etat in Danny’s body, replacing all the bad cells that his bone marrow is producing with healthy ones.
We checked into the hospital yesterday (Thu, May 18), and Danny began his conditioning treatment that consists of high doses of chemotherapy to prepare his body for transplantation. This is a 4-day treatment, and on the fifth day, he’ll rest. The next day, May 23, is “Day 0″… transplant day.
The doctors have told us that it will likely be a “middle of the night” transplant, because Danny’s donor lives somewhere in Europe. Once the cells are collected from the donor, a process that takes 4-6 hours, the cells are then flown across the Atlantic Ocean to San Antonio. Once in San Antonio, they go to a cellular lab where they prepare the cells for transplantation. The cells then leave San Antonio for Austin, where we’ll be anxiously waiting, with Danny’s medical team by our side, for Danny’s second chance at life to begin.
There is a post-transplant protocol to reduce the chances of graft-vs-host disease (GvHD). This happens on Days +3, +4, and +5. After that, we let the new stem cells do their thing, keeping Danny hospitalized so that he can be closely monitored.
If all goes as planned, we’ll hopefully be discharged around June 12.
Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers over the next several days. Things are going to be tough for a while, and we need every ounce of your love, hope, and support. Thank you, friends and family. We love you all!
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