Upcoming dates

Yesterday was my last day of my regular chemo!  The chemo was effective and had few side effects.  How fortunate I have been!  Truly, how fortunate I have been.  And now I have time to focus on good eating, exercising, and settling in, if only briefly, at work.  No more worrying about drug-induced insomnia; no more worrying about drug-induced swollen legs and feet; no more worrying about drug-induced....wait - there's actually no more worrying about drugs!  I'll have more time, too, to prepare myself for the next phase of treatment:  stem cell transplant.

Some upcoming dates:

July 25th - 'Consent Day' at Dana-Farber, a full day of information exchange, conversation, tests (what would a day be without lab tests??), and meeting my entire healthcare team

July 30th - Mom arrives

August 2nd - sister Linda arrives

August 5th - 'Mobilization' (the beginning phase of the stem cell process) begins with a full day in the chemo chair with a new and more powerful drug - Cytoxan, meant begin the demolition of my immune system.  A bit more scary than what I've received thus far.

August 6th - Levaquin, a broad spectrum antibiotic, starts...hmmm, don't know for how long.

August 7th - the beginning of 10 days of injections of neupogen to boost the production of my stem cells.  Thankfully, I can give myself the injections since the needle is similar to the insulin needles I used for so many years, so I don't need to worry about traveling to the doctor's office.

August 15th - the out-patient placement of a Hickman line under my right chestbone.  The Hickman line has been described as 'garden hoses.'  Unlike the implanted port on the left side, the Hickman will protrude and have 2 'garden hoses' extending from it.  Now won't that be an interesting sight??

August 16th - the first harvest of my stem cells.  I heard that I must sit perfectly still during the harvest.  I don't know how many stem cells need to be harvested, but I understand the number is in the millions.  Also out-patient.

August 17th - more harvesting if needed

August 20th - I'll be admitted to Brigham and Women's Hospital.  I'll have my own sterile little bubble room.  Nothing can enter the room without the item being wiped down, and all visitors must wear a mask and gloves and be healthy.

August 21st and 22nd - Melphalan days, which I'm calling demolition days.  I'm not looking forward to these days.  No, I'm not looking forward to these days at all.   Though I have escaped serious side effects from my regular RVD chemo, melphalan will be considerably less kind, but it will seek out and destroy any myeloma cells hiding in my body.  It will all but destroy my immune system, too.

August 23rd - my stem cells come home!  My stem cells will be infused back into me at some point during the day in a very short procedure - we're talking 15 or 20 minutes!

September 7th - my anticipated hospital discharge.

There are many more details to add, but I wanted to let everyone know what my schedule will be like in the coming month.  I'll update again after my July 25th Dana-Farber appointment.

Until then, it's summer and the days are perfect!  And I'm going for a tiny, little, very small, no-steeper-than-my-driveway hike!  The beat goes on :-)