Pedal to the metal

I've been spending a lot of time in Ann Arbor. I should probably rent a place there. In the last couple weeks, I've been there for more than 6 hours on 8 of those days. It's been crazy. I'm not whining (as much as it probably sounds like it), it's just been a lot. 

That is what happens, apparently, when the decision is made to go forward with the stem cell transplant.  A recap of the last 12 days:

-Had a PET Scan, which showed considerable improvement in the size of the tumors (this is good news). 

-The Transplant team needs to see a certain level of improvement in the disease/that it is reactive to chemo before the decision to go ahead with the transplant can be made. They saw what they needed to. 

-Underwent half of the Chemotherapy that I usually go through


(which made me happy)

-Met with the transplant team multiple times

-Have been here for a seemingly endless battery of tests, most of which I've done before but have to be re-done in order to proceed (PFT, Echocardiogram, blood and urine tests, etc.) All have come back healthy and normal.

Everyone's favorite line: "Looks like you're really healthy! Minus the Cancer, of course." HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HILARIOUS

The reaction I have to this joke (inside my head of course):

-Have been preparing to have my stem cells collected by injecting myself 4 times every night over the last 3 nights with Neupogen, the purpose of which is to make my bone marrow "mass produce" white blood cells, thus making it easier for the machine to collect the cells. It sucks. It causes "bone pain," which I laughed at when I read it initially, but shouldn't have. I feel 80.

-Have finally picked a date to check in. Monday, September 14th.

So the next couple weeks will remain kind of crazy. Getting everything straightened out with work, getting things squared away at home, squared away with bills, trying to find a little time to have some fun before I'm either in a hospital or on bed rest for 4 months...it'll be crazy, but I'll get it done.

I'm definitely not looking forward to my potentially month-long stay in the hospital. It's not the massive chemo dose I'll receive or the chance of something going wrong, it's the monotony that I dread. I spent a week in the hospital after my surgery, and that was tough. So what I'm saying is, I'll have a lot of down time, and there's only so many things on Netflix worth watching or fantasy football roster moves to make in a day---so expect many (mostly, I would guess, worthless) blog posts.

Maybe I'll track the steady decline of my hair and beard again.

Still, if the monotony and the boredom and the massive dose of chemo are what it takes to finally put this all behind me, then of course it's all worth it.

It's a scary time, given all the uncertainty, but it's an exciting time.

15 days to check-in.