2 down, 98 days to go

It feels so good to be in the positive days now! Counting down has begun and I can't wait to be done with it all!

So transplant day was interesting. I got a little bag of cells that looked like blood and it only took about 30 minutes to do the transplant. I had to chew gum to help with the taste and smell of the preservative. there were about 5 doctors in my room standing and watching me as i say there and got my cells. it was a little unnerving because i got flushed, nauseous and anxious...and since they were all just watching me i felt too uncomfortable to throw up or do anything! I was very happy that it was over in a short time. Travis decided to re name me to either savannis, travannah, or jovannah traire rollins :P

A couple nights ago I woke up in excruciating pain in my uterus. Nothing would help it go away for decrease in pain so I called the nurse and they were able to give me some morphine for the pain. Luckily that worked and I was able to go back to sleep. The next day I felt crampy still but not as bad...however , i still had no idea what that pain was from. Well, it looks like I've started, what could be my last, period.....and man does it want to go out with a bang! this will be a week i will never forget and will never miss because Ive never had such cramps before! What's funny about it all is that my mom, who is supposed to be going through menopause, started her period a day before me...so i'm blaming her for all of this! I am very fortunate to be here because all the doctors and nurses are so quick to give me pain medications; they really don't want me to be in any sort of pain. :)

Me and mom went to an art lesson todaay about how to paint with water colors! I have to say that i learned a lot about it and was surprised at how much I liked it. I am working on a picture that is going to be both water color and acrylic paint. I'm excited to see him (the art teacher) again on monday :) we went up to the 24th floor, which is the highest floor, and painted in the observatory room. This floor is all windows and you can see all of Houston. I can't wait to go back tonight to check out downtown :) it was very peaceful up there and the perfect place to draw or paint.

Mom just left to go pick up nana who will be here for 10 days or so. Cassidy also has the entire weekend off so I will be surrounded this weekend by the people I love! I am hoping my dad will be able to come up this weekend as well.

I met with my occupational therapist and my physical therapist in the past two days. they gave me bands to work with to do exercises to keep me strong. i have to be aware of my platelet count because once they reach 20,000 then I'm at risk for an injury that won't heal. I need to set up a routine that will get me up and out of bed and walking around. My PT told me that doing 7 laps of the floor equals out to a mile. Hopefully I will be motivated to do more than a mile :)

My counts are dropping like they should be and I've felt a little fatigued from lack of RBC and whatnot. in about two weeks the doctors will be able to see if engraftment is occurring (that is a fancy word for my brother's cells are taking over mine). Slight graft versus host disease is expected to happen but they will make sure it is controlled and doesn't get worse. I will update you all on this when I hear more about how the transplant is progressing.

I love you all and will update later!

-sav