~*~*~*The Transplant Is ON!!!~*~*~*~

Once again, my apologies for not writing..... BUT.....

Well, after an emotional and up and down week full of doctor's appointments my dad has an OFFICIAL DATE!!!

This week he has had many routine appointments and LONG days at MD Anderson (sometimes more than 12 hour days) including transfusions, platelets, whole blood, potassium and magnesium drips, cat scans, bone marrow aspirations, dental appointments (to check out his teeth before the transplant), etc. etc. He is such a trooper, and my mom is right there by his side for all of this!

On Wednesday we had QUITE THE SCARE!! My dad's bone marrow initially showed that his cancer had returned and they were going to put him back in the hospital on Thursday to begin chemo immediately. BUT after the pathologist looked at his blood more closely (like one milliliter at a time counting his lymphocytes one at a time) they discovered that his bone marrow had not changed. THANK- GOODNESS, it was a very emotional day knowing that his transplant would be postponed yet again (and remembering all he went through since September when he had his last round of chemo we were all stressed!)

IF ALL GOES AS PLANNED AND GOD IS WILLING, he will go in on April the 5th to begin chemotherapy... they want to insure that he has no cancer hiding anywhere in his body... he will be really sick and out of it....pumped full of steroids (which make him really agressive) and other meds to keep him together. Then on April 12th he will have his infusion of bone marrow from the donor. It will be touch and go for lots of days as we wait to see if his body accepts or rejects its new DNA and bone marrow. Some people that my parents have met through this process report feeling wonderful immediately and some have been on the opposite end of that spectrum. In my heart I just know that he is going to feel great! From this point on he will be in a separate ward for thirty days healing and hopefully eating, walking and regaining his strength. Sometime after this he will be sent home ( my mom is getting another apartment in MD Anderson for this period of time ) and will have to return to MD Anderson (which will techinically be there home ) every other day for ???? I am not sure how long. ........

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE continue to pray for my dad! He needs all of our thoughts and prayers. His emotional state is at least half of this battle and thus far he is strong in this area thanks to God and all of our prayers! Please pray for my mother's strength, the donor's safety and health, the doctor's wisdom and knowledge and for his guardian angels (my sister Stephanie is one of them) to be with him at this scary and risky time.

God bless all of you..... Just so you know my dad refuses to look at this blog... he does not want to see the past and how he looked..... he wants to look toward the future....... if you would like to email him and don't know his address it is capt135a@yahoo.com I know that he would love to hear from you!

I will post again soo.... TTYL!!! :)