Time for the Allo

I can't believe it is here. John has been admitted to the hospital for his allogeneic (donor) transplant. He was starting to feel so so good and almost normal after his auto transplant. Which I guess is the plan. They want him as healthy as possible when doing a tandem transplant this way. It should get the best results.

Last week we had an appointment with Dr. Ashe. She said they could not have asked for a better outcome from his auto transplant. All of his numbers were better than they had hoped for. He was at 1 % cancer cells - which is great. We are so happy that transplant went so well.  John was feeling great last week. He went golfing twice, we went to the Aviary, out to lunch twice and to a Bees game. He did a bunch of yard work and worked on all the kids bikes. He fixed things around the house. (I kept him busy).

 John and I at the Bees game.

John with his brothers, Dave and Jeff at the Bees game.

He was admitted yesterday and should be in the hospital for 4-6 weeks. His goal is 4 weeks. If it is up to me, it will be a little shorter (one day) so he can come home on Father's Day :) As long as there are no major complications he should be home in 4 weeks. But, one of the drugs they give him to help prevent Graft vs Host Disease (GVHD) can actually put him in ICU with breathing problems.  I REALLY hope we can avoid that. He can also get mouth sores from the chemo. The sores can actually be through out the whole gut. It can be super super painful. But, since he avoided it with his auto, hopefully he can avoid it with this one. (the melphalan they used for his auto is known for mouth sores, this chemo drug - not as much).

These first 2 days have been pretty uneventful. When we got there yesterday we literally sat in the room and talked to the Nurse, CNA, PA and his care coordinator for about 2 hours. Just talking and laughing :) We went for a 1 1/2 mile walk yesterday. They started some meds last night and had to do a sample of the chemo this morning. Pretty uneventful so far. Chemo actually starts Thursday and is for 4 days. Then 2 days of the scary drug and then transplant of the 29th.

The great thing about this is that it is potentially a cure for John. That is our plan. His body has responded so well to everything, we are praying that it continues to. We know that things can go very wrong, but we had no choice. If we don't do this, he will die. His body is strong and as healthy as can be - so - HERE WE GO!!