Autologous Transplant

It has been a long past few weeks:

I am blogging from LDS Hospital, John just got his Auto Transplant :)

On February 12 it was actually the 19th anniversary of our first date. We always celebrate that day and this year we both totally forgot :( Two days later we realized it had passed. That is what has happened to our lives. I seriously only remember the things I have to or the things in my calendar.
We had a quiet at home valentines day. John couldn't go any where. Abby was babysitting, we put the other kids to bed and watched a movie - nothing super exciting.

When we decided to do this "tandem" transplant, we knew John would have to quit his job. He did and Valentines day was his last day. He decided that if he has a few good weeks in between transplants he does not want to spend those weeks working. We had an appointment at the Hospital Friday the 15th. John had some tests done and we met with a Dr. We also decided to apply for Medicaid for John (and Abby and I). Medicaid will cover his Allo (donor) transplant 100 %. We will put him on Cobra ins. through his work until that comes through. But to qualify for medicaid you are only allowed one house and one car. No matter how big your family is. We decided to sell John's car.  It might sound silly, but it was really hard for me. I knew it was the right and smart thing to do, just not easy. Kind of letting go of that second car and that lifestyle. That was supposed to be Abby's car and we only had 8 more payments on it. But selling it cut out that payment, cut car ins in half and with what we made we paid off 4 credit cards. So, in the end it saved us about $700 a month. We had also paid off my car with our tax return. So we are making head way figuring out our finances with out John working. So, that night John sold his car back to the dealer (sold to dealer because we still owed on it and he had lost his bill of sale, so it had to go back to dealer since we were in a hurry).

We had a quiet 4 day weekend home with the kids. Saturday John had the kids shave his head :) He will lose his hair with this chemo so he wanted the kids to be part of it. They all got a turn with the clippers at a #1 and then I finished it. (Pictures are on my computer at home so I will add them later). Monday we actually went and picked up a rental car?? I know, makes no sense. John's car was in his name only so he had to sell it before going into the hospital. But we needed a 2nd car for while he is in the hospital. My sisters are taking turns coming to help at home and need my car to get kids to and from school. And I need a car to get to and from the hospital. It still saves us money this month. Then I took the 4 younger kids to Ogden to the Treehouse Museum, since my sister Lauren was flying into the Ogden airport that afternoon. Abby wanted to stay home with John.

Lauren and her 2 year old daughter Lynden are here this week. The kids are having so much fun with Lyndi. They haven not seen her since our family reunion in San Diego summer, 2011.  Lyndi was only 9 months old then.

Tuesday, February 19 John and I came to the hospital. Tuesday and Wednesday John had a high does of a chemotherapy drug called melphalan. It is an IV drip and takes about an hour. Just once each day. That chemo wipes out his fast dividing cells. He has done ok with it. Wednesday night he had a hard night and threw up several times. When I got here in the morning he was super tired and  did not feel like eating anything. Eventually I got him to eat a little bit. We even watched some "Lost" and played some games (our best dates seem to be at the hospital :))When I left he was feeling ok. (I try to be here at the hospital from about 9:30-5:30 each day) Yesterday was actually his "rest" day. No chemo, no transplant.

Today, Friday, February 22 is transplant day. I got here about 9:30. Right after getting here our Stake President, Curtis Ivins came to visit. It was great to visit with him, he was here about an hour. Then they started pre meds on his IV drip (tylenol, benadryl, and something else). The American Red Cross came in with John's 2 bags of stem cells. They defrost them right here in the room and the nurse hooks the bags up to his IV line. Each bag only takes about 10 minutes, so it does not take long. The nurse said that some people get pale and flushed, nauseas, and have shortness of breath during the actually stem cell insertion. John did good. He is just super tired (literally snoring next to me right now). They did give him oxygen and that is it. An interesting "side effect" is during the transplant and after for a few days the patient will smell like creamed corn/tomato soup :) It is from the chemicals used to freeze the stem cells. I definitely smell it, but not awful right now. It takes a few days for the smell to work its way out of his body.

So, now we just wait!!! He will probably feel worse before he feels better. He will almost certainly need a few blood transfusions and platelettes. His counts will go down for few days. He may get mouth sores in his mouth and through his GI tract. He may be pretty nauseas. So the next week and a half or so may not be very fun. I am hoping that since John has had it pretty easy as far as chemo side effects, that it won't be too bad. Time will tell.

I am doing ok. I am super tired. I am so grateful for Lauren and all her help right now. But I only sleep like 6 hours a night or so - I need more than that.  I am sure we will get into a routine. But, this is hard and scary. I have to go on and be a mom and a wife. But it is hard to juggle everything right now. It is hard figuring out all our finances and how are we going to survive? But it is starting to work out. John is applying for disability and if he is on medicaid and disability we should be fine. But all this paperwork is a PAIN!!

I am so grateful for my testimony and faith right now. I do not know how any one goes through this with out the gospel. I know the Lord is guiding us through this and is watchful of us. I know we have amazing friends and family and neighbors. I feel so blessed with the people in our lives.