He's a MATCH!!!!

goooooood news everybody!! Today I found out that my brother (Travis) is a match and will be my stem cell donor for my stem cell transplant! YAY!!!! this makes life a LOT easier now that we don't have to search the registry for a potential donor and wait an extra couple of months to do so. Knowing this we will have to time everything PERFECTLY; this includes not only my trip to Florida but also my egg harvesting and next treatment for chemotherapy. If we have to wait too long for the stem cell transplant to begin then we risk the leukemia coming back. It is CRUCIAL to keep me in remission; studies have shown that stem cell transplants work a lot better in the first remission. SO, knowing this, I may do another round of chemotherapy before starting the stem cell transplant. We also need to coordinate Travis coming up to Houston for a week to do his tests before I start chemotherapy for the transplant. It's tight so hopefully everything goes smooth and I can start at the end of this month/beginning of september!

As for traveling, my counts are quite low and not going up yet. I was in the hospital from 5:00 pm to 12:30 am getting blood and platelets. I came in to MDA for a blood test today and it showed that I need more platelets. So here i am, in the transfusion unit, waiting for my yellow platelets :) it's nice to lay down after a day of appointments; my mom and I have been going and going since 10:00am this morning (it is now almost 7:00pm) and I still have to get treatment....and pack. I need to pack!! I have to finish tonight because tomorrow morning will be busy with going back to MDA in the morning to get a blood test, paperwork to bring to FL with me and possibly a WBC booster shot. Then Janet is picking us up at 10:00 am to drive us 45 minutes to the airport. Cassidy leaves out at 12:00 pm and we leave at 1:00 pm. We will then head down to Nana's house for a giant sleep over (me, cass, chelsea, maile, mom, dad, and nana). I still don't have an immune system so i will be extra careful traveling and being around Maile, crowds and sick people. If you are sick and will be at the graduation party either avoid me altogether or don't come...I'm not sure when my counts will be up again so stay healthy for me!!

My bones are very achy today...not fun. Hopefully it's my bone marrow kickstarting and producing cells again.

Time to relax and hang out for a couple of hours before needing to worry about packing...


LOVE YOU!!!

-sav