This is just typical of my life, I guess (even though my mom always says its not just me, it's just life, but I swear, stuff like this always happens to me) Anyway, we were suppose to leave on Sunday for USC but unfortunately to threw out my neck. I don't know who that actually happens to but it was really great especially when we were suppose to leave in a few hours. I woke up that morning fine, made breakfast, had a cup of coffee but as I was sitting on the couch I looked down to talk to Mia and bam, my neck got this excruciating pain and then I couldn't move it! I made the kids go wake up Donnie because I honestly could not move my neck or head or left arm without having shooting pain. Needless to say, I was laid out on the couch all day and even had to have my mom pick me up a neck brace. Attractive, I know! We decided to wait to the morning to leave, in hopes that I would be feeling better. Which actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise because traffic the Sunday after Thanksgiving was pretty much
a parking lot!
We left about 6am on Monday and my neck felt almost completely better, I just couldn't make any fast moves ;) The drive went by fast, we even got there 2 hours before his appointment, so we were able to enjoy a nice, kid-free lunch. Lucky us :) At his appointment, we met with Dr. Morbacher first. She was very pleased with the progress Donnie has made so far. Donnie weighed a whopping 169 lbs. too. He was about 150 lbs. when he started his first cycle. We also, met with the stem cell transplant coordinator. She went over Donnie's calendar with us, what to expect for the next couple months. If Donnie's PET scan shows progress of 80% or more, then he will be able to begin the process of stem cell immediately. He had his PET scan yesterday so we will know result by Monday. If all goes as planned, he will receive two high dose chemo bags starting next Thursday. One every 12 hours. It will be inpatient so he'll be admitted Wednesday night and discharged on Friday. After he is discharged he will have to give himself Neupogen shots once a day till his stem cell harvest on the 19th. The Neupogen shots help him stimulate white blood cell production. On the 19th, he will go in for the stem cell harvest. They said it will take any where from 1 to 4 days depending on how many stem cells they can collect each day and that all depends on the individual. They need 5 million but they said Donnie is young and healthy so it shouldn't take long. They do the harvest from 7am-3pm then he can leave. They test it and if he has enough, he can go home but if he doesn't he has to go back the next day. I'm just glad that they were able to work to where even if he takes all four days he will still be home in time for Christmas! Then on the 28th, he goes back to USC for the 3 week hospital stay to do the actual stem cell transplant. This is a pretty vague overview but as things start to happen I will go a little bit more into detail. And heck, this could all change by the time it all rolls around. I'm just glad to have something in writing to where I can kinda plan some stuff.
It is going to be a crazy couple months but I a just so ready to have all this behind us. We are ready to start enjoying this life we have together and not just trying to get through the day. I wish that we weren't having to do all this smack dab in the middle of all the holidays but oh well, as is life! He is on his way though, to FULL recovery!
PS-Look at this nice little piece of equipment they added to Donnie's chest. (needed for the stem cell harvest) Donnie will be so elated as soon as all the ports and catheters and cords are permanently removed, he actually talks about that daily ;)
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