AML: Day -4

Not a lot of news today.  I got my last dose of chemo this afternoon.  Only 2 doses.   Radiation starts tomorrow.  Probably the most nervous about that.   When you get a parade of doctors telling you the risks of every procedure... It weighs on a person. 

So the chemo is done.  Turns out one of the drugs causes hiccups.  I've been dealing with them most of the afternoon.   Only slightly nauseous.  Getting more and more tired.  \

The cardiologist stoped by.  They are starting me on some drugs to try to protect it since my echocardiogram has me at the low end of normal in the amount of blood it pumps with each beat.  They say not to be worried, but all say it is unusual for my age.  It's the danger of all this chemo... It can be hard on the organs. 

Everyone still says that I am in great shape for this... So I will go with that.   In all a good day.  Glad to have my girl with me after all the lonely days in Sanford. 

New Twitter Feed

In anticipation of days I do not feel like writing lenthgy blog posts, I added a twitter feed in the right column of the blog  I will post brief updates there.  The tweets may become part of posts later on.   But I can tweet faster then I can blog.

You can follow the specifics of my stem cell transplant in twitter @goaheadpokeme or click "Join the Conversation" at the bottom of the widget on the right.

AML: Day -5, Station 94

There was not much to tell yesterday, so I didn't post. I just had to report to the hospital to get my port dressing changed and flushed. We moved into the Gift of Life House and relaxed.

I reported to the Methodist hospital at 7:45 this morning to Station 94. Station 94 sounds kind of cool, like we're in some secret government facility. Unfortunately, it turns out it is just me and a bunch of other sick people.

Disclaimer: In an effort to help people understand the experience, I've decided to share more of the more "personal" elements of this treatment. I've keep some of the things to myself up to this point, but am hearing from others that are in similar situations as I. So I want to paint the full picture.

The room here his very similar to what I am used to at Sanford. The room has its own air filtration system. People have to wash their hands as they come and go.

My meds started right away. I don't have all the names but here's the basics

Actigall: Conditioning and protection for my liver. (I started this a few days ago)
Antifungal: Preventitive for fungal infections
Antibiotic: Preventitive for bacterial infections
Antiviral: Preventitive for viral infections
I also get a shot in the belly that is additional protection for my liver.

The chemo I am getting is called Cytoxan. It's a nasty one from what they tell me. So much so that it will burn the lining of my bladder if we don't do something about it. So that brings me to the more personal part of this. To protect my bladder they have to do a constant flush while I am on the chemo. So I get a new experience... my very first catheter.

Ouch. I am glad it will only be for 48 hours. I am not sure how anyome would get used to something like that. The good news is I should be able to have some epic Xbox sessions as I won't have to get up and go to the bathroom. Like I said, it is a constant flush... they push liquids in, I push them out. So I have literally been peeing since 10:00 this morning.

I've finished my chemo for the day. So half done with Chemo. Everything is going fine. No major side effects yet. Some tiredness, but that is about it. Appetite is fine and the food has been solid. Once the catheter is removed on Tuesday, I'll have a little more freedom to come and go. Even leave the hospital between radiation treatments if I want. We will see.

Andy arrived tonight (YES!). Mom will head some in the morning.  Mom has been great company this week, but I don't think she is used to the slower pace.  So at the moment I have the luxury of having both my caregivers taking care of me.

I am comfortable and doing well.

AML: Day 5 @ Mayo

Today is a shorter day.  Just a couple of things going on.  It started early though.

5:45 am
Reported for surgery.  This surgery is to place my Hickman catheter.  I have not had not had one of these since my first round of chemo where it got infected with MRSA and was removed.  Surgery started about 7:45.  It went well with one minor issue.  Just as they were about to start, i realized i was not as sedated as i was feeling a few moments earlier.  I commented to the group of doctors and nurses.  They took a look and noticed my IV had come lose.  So i was not getting and sedation or fluids. 
They fixed and a few minutes later i was under.  By about 9:15 i was back in the room and things were done.  I now have 2 tubes poking out of my chest which they  will use for chemo, meds and blood draws.

10:30
I had an appt with a Dermatologist.  Considering I just had surgery, i was glad this was in the same building.  I didn't have to walk too far.  They are just looking for any issues and getting a current benchmark.  One of the first things to be affected will be my skin.  Got the green light, all is good.

11:00
After the dermatologist I visited with one of my coordinators Michele about some blood draws she needed for one of the research studies.  She was aware of the timing of the arrival of the stem cells.  They probably would not arrive until early or late Friday.  So I won't get the transplant until late Friday or early Saturday. 

1:45
One last class about my chemotherapy.   Some good info here about the actual procedure. 

So not many appointments, but the early start and surgery has me worn out.  Relaxing the rest of today since I am very sore from the port placement.  The incisions don;t actually hurt... but some of the muscles in my neck and sholder are hurting. 

Moving into Gift of Life house tomorrow.

AML: Gift of Life Transplant House

So, we have spent some time this week looking for lodging.  The people at Mayo don't really offer help for this.  It has been a bit of a challenge figuring out the options which there are many.  

We were directed to the Gift of Life Transplant house early on.  But it was necessary to get a tour before being considered for a room.  Rooms are also based on availability and they can't be reserved more then a few days ahead of time because people come  and go based on their treatment schedules. 

We managed to find a break in our schedule to tour the house today.   They have 2 houses. Both just a few blocks from Mayo and across the street from each other. 

There are a few things about the facility that were causing me to have reservations about staying there.  #1:  No kids under 17.  In the end, this is not a huge issue.  The kids won;t be up too often and when they are I can go to them.  #2: no TVs in the guest rooms.  They say they do this to encourage people to be out and about more, I am guessing it really is about cost savings.  They do have Internet access in each room, so I will have the connectivity I need to keep myself occupied.  That is Xbox Live will work fine. 

We (Mom  I) toured the facilities and it really is a no brainier.  This is the place to stay.  It is only $25 a day and we will be very comfortable.  We were told roughly half the other people staying are there for stem cell transplants like me.

At the end of the tour, I said that we wanted to be on the list.  It actually took a few tries to get the message across that we wanted to be on the list right now.  I guess most probably tour weeks in advance. 

So the big question is availability.  When would I actually be able to get in.  I had been led to believe this could be a problem.  I know there are people sending prayers my way and here is another indication of prayers being answered.  Turns out that they had a room available immediately in their newer house.  They took us over, showed us the room and signed us up.  Lodging issue resolved.  Just like that.    Another huge burden lifted. 

Best part... Even though I will be in the hospital next week, Andy is allowed to stay in my room during that time.  So as of Saturday and for my stay here, our address in Rochester will be:

Gift of Life Transplant House
Attn: Jon Grann,  Room 249
724 Second Street SW
Rochester, MN 55902
Note:  I can't have flowers or plants...

BIG TIP... I wish someone told me:
If you are looking for lodging here, and there happens to be no availability at the house, they have arrangements with local hotels and will get you a room somewhere until something opens up.   This info was not on their site and was not volunteered when we called and were having trouble making a tour work in our schedule.   I would seriously suggest everyone start here.  They will get you a room and if the arrangements are not to your liking, you can move out any time. 

AML: Day 4 @ Mayo: Going FISH'n

Today was one of the more productive and informative days. 

7:45
Meeting with my transplant coordinator.  She (Marsha) took me through the schedule for the pre-transplant conditioning.   I will be admitted to the hospital Sunday morning to start chemo.  I will have chemo Sunday and Monday then radiation.   I will be inpatient all week and will be released after that transplant on Friday or Saturday morning assuming all is going well.  We talked in detail about Graft vs Host Disease   More about GVHD later.   I signed up for a few more research studies.  They wanted permission to take blood samples to study to monitor my progress.   Mayo tries to get everyone going through the transplant to sign up, so this is not related to my general awesomeness. 

9:15
Meeting with Pharmacist.  They took me through the drugs I will be on to prevent infections and GVHD.  We talked about side effects. Pretty standard stuff.   Here's something regarding the meds, as an inpatient, there are no copays on meds.  As outpatient which I will be, I am responsible for copays for all meds.  For something like vfend (an  anti fungal) even the copays are pretty high. 

11:00
Tour of the Gift of Life Transplant house.  Several people suggested this place and a good option for lodging for the duration of my stay here.  I'm going to write another post tonight about the transplant house.  Short story, they have a room available so I decided to take it.  Lodging issue resolved. 

2:30
Bone Marrow Consultation.   Met one of the hematology doctors.  He is pone of the team that will be involved with the transplant.  The nice thing is a lot of the work is done as a team of doctors and nurses.  So there are many people involved in monitoring an decision making.  The Dr. just checked me out and ran over things in a little more detail.  All good.   

A couple interesting points:

• The radiation they are going to give me is a full dose radiation.  They often do a lower dose because the age of the transplant recipient is generally higher.  In my case they are going to hit me harder because I am younger and should tolerate it better. 
• My donor is the same blood type as me.  So my blood type won't change. 
• The FDA considers my donor to me ineligible because they are from Germany.  The reason is because of BSE (Mad Cow Disease).   Because of the outbreak of Mad Cow Disease in Europe many years ago, the FDA still considers that donors from Europe to be ineligible.  The funny thing is that Mayo can ignore it and proceed anyway because of the high risk nature of my cancer.   The Dr remarked that there is a high percentage of matches that come from European countries.  If it were not for the international donors, there would be FAR fewer matches.

2:45
Surgical consult.  I need to have a Central line (Hickman catheter) placed.  The surgical resident came in and took me through the procedure and the risks.  Remember I have mainly had PICC lines.  This long term port will be an adjustment.  I will have surgery in the morning to place the Hickmann. 

3:30
Visit with my doctor.  Dr. Hogan.  This is the first time I have seen him since January.  I like him.  He is to the point, full of info and explains things in detail.  He kind of wrapped things up.  Have me more detail and some new info. 

• My tests are coming back as we hoped.  I am still in remission. 
• My heart functions are a little lower then normal. That is I am not pumping quite as much blood with each beat as I should.  It is believed this is cause by the cumulative effect of all my chemo.  It is something they will monitor but it is not low enough to be of major concern right now.  This is why these tests this week are important, they can monitor this to make sure we don't need to adjust treatment. 
• My kidney's and liver are working fine.
• There are no chromosomal abnormalities in my DNA right now.  (My biopsies when I was not in remission indicated an issue in the 11th chromosome of my Leukemia cells).  Right now, everything including my spinal fluid is clear. 
• Dr Hogan ordered a FISH test on my DNA to see if there are any chromosomal issues that are not obvious.  Basically a FISH test lets the doctors look in more detail to see if there could be issues to look out for.  Because my leukemia presents with problems in the 11th chromosome, they want to look at my normal cells in more detail to see if there could be some underlying condition. 
• My donor is a 9/10 match and male (from Germany).  The one protein that does not match is the DQ marker.  Dr Hogan said that if there is one that you want to not match, it's this one.  Generally there is a 10% higher risk with each mismatch, this one however does not have a statistically higher risk.  This is good news.  It essentially means it's as good as a 10/10 match. 
• My donor tests positive for the HCMV virus.  I do as well.  50-80% of people in the US have this virus, 40% worldwide.  For the most part it does nothing, but it can be very dangerous for immune compromised people (like I am going to be).  Becasue they are aware of this, they can monitor the virus for reactivation.  I am told they can detect even a flicker of reactivation and if that happens (which is rare) they can treat with stonger anivirals. 
• It happens Dr. Hogan is the director of the department here.  So I count myself very fortunate to have him and my primary doctor. 

As you cant tell from this post... It was a lot to take in today.  I am starting some of my meds tonight to begin conditioning my liver for the treatments.    With all this info and lodging issue resolved, we are in a good spot and I am beginning to have a handle on everything. 

Doctor said things are essentially as optimal as they can be and we are good to proceed.  It is good news.  

Surgery and a few more tests tomorrow...   Saturday off and Andy joining me on Sunday (I miss her).   Almost there...

AML: Day 3 @ Mayo

The day started early with my first consult at 7:00. the good news is I had no headaches from the Lumbar puncture.  I felt a little off, and sore, but no headaches. 

7:00	Meeting with radiology doctor.  I will have 6 rounds of radiation next week.  The doctor took me through the procedure.  Full body radiation.   He mentioned that the the chance my lungs would explode is very remote.  So that was good to hear.    I am nervous about the radiation.  It's a unfamiliar element.
9:00	Bone marrow measurement.  I got to meet a couple of Physicists that took different measurements when I was sitting down in the machine.  They are going to build some kind of lead shield that will even out the radiation they are going to hit me with.
10:00	Echocardiogram.  This is a ultrasound of the heart.  It took about and hour for them to get the pics they wanted.   Pretty simple test.
2:00	Meeting about the financial side of the transplant.  This was basically a waste of time.  They had some basic info about my insurance, which I knew.  Then they showed me some paperwork that was from 2008 about the cost of inpatient transplants.  Mine is outpatient and when I mentioned that, they had no paperwork for that scenario.  So we met, but my financial advisor couldn't tell me ANYTHING.   Wonder how much that consult cost?  Since they had access to my insurance info, I would have expected they could take me through the costs of a typical transplant and give me some guidance as to what things cost out of my pocket.  I really don't need to know what the insurance is going to cover.
3:00	Eye Exam.  This was just another test to make sure there are not issues or infections.  I went in at 3:00 where the nurse did the basic assessment and gave me drops to dilate my eyes.  at this point I was to see the doctor.  They put me in this small waiting room and I waited for 2 hours.  Finally at 5:00 the doctor called me back, spent literally 2 minutes with me, looking in my eyes and sent me on my way.  They didn't even give me the opportunity to put my contacts back in so I had to stumble around (eyesight is very poor without contacts) finding my way back to the waiting room and then to a bathroom to put in my contacts.  What a way to end the day.

So I can't say that today was overly productive.  The tests in the morning went really smooth.  In the case of the dentist yesterday and the eye Dr today, I wonder if they really spent enough time to see anything.   I only saw the dentist for about 4 min and the eye doctor for 2 min.   I trust they have it all worked out. 

For the most part, the people here are great, and most of the procedures are going fine.  I don't want to give the impression that things are not going well, it just is a little strange at some of the things going on.   The engineer in me struggles with all the inefficiencies. 

Tomorrow is a full day and should be very productive with most of my actual consults for my treatment.  I should have plenty to tell tomorrow.

AML: Day 2 @ Mayo - Turns out I am just nuts

Day 2 in Rochester. 

Another full day with more running around. Not as many appointments today, but these were longer. 

8:15	Class:  Dietary instructions after transplant I'll have to avoid quite a few foods that could expose me to bacteria while I am engrafting (while my counts recover).   This really is no different then each of my chemo treatments when my counts would bottom and recover.  Not much here I was not already aware of.
10:15	Hematology Consultation.  Turns out I got to visit with my Nurse Practitioner, Darci.  They just wanted to check on me and visit about how things are going.  This was a good chance to visit about what was coming up.   Not a lot of new info here, but it was good to visit with one of the people that are core to my treatment.
12:00	Meeting with a research coordinator.  Word is out on my awesomeness.  So they want to include me in a research study.   Just some paperwork to fill out occasionally.
1:00	Meeting with Psychologist.  This one took a few hours.  All bone marrow transplant recipients go through this.   They are looking to see how I am coping with everything.   I really did enjoy the opportunity to talk through everything.  In the end, they came to the conclusion I don't have cancer.  I am just nuts.  The course of treatment is the same however... so we're going ahead with the transplant.
3:15	Lumbar Puncture.  If you have followed my other posts, you know I had a bad experience with this last time. Terrible headaches.   So I did the best I could to avoid this.  Unfortunately, they insisted on sticking a needle in my back again.  The procedure went pretty well. Everyone was aware of my reservations and prior experience.  We'll find out tomorrow if the headaches happen again.  I am pretty sore from the procedure.

I still need to figure out the housing.  I do know next week I will be inpatient for the chemo and radiation treatments.  So Andy will be on her own for lodging.  The transplant on the 4th will be outpatient.  Guessing we'll have Andy in a hotel until I am out of the hospital and we secure extended stay housing. 

I am back in the hotel relaxing as ordered so this lumbar punture doesn't casue issues. 
Tomorrow is another full day. 

AML: Day 1 @ Mayo.... Testing

First things first... the benefit was amazing.   I will write more about it later as we are still pulling everything together.  I just want to express how overwhelmed we were by how many people attended and how generous everyone was.  Thanks to everyone...

For now, I'll update everyone on how things are going in Rochester

To make best use of the time Andy has off we elected to have my mom (Crys) join me this week.  Because many of my procedures have anesthesia, I need someone with me the whole time.  This week is just tests to make sure I am ready for the transplant and my preference is to have Andy with me during the actual treatments.    Here's what we did today:

7:15	We checked in at the transplant center and picked up my paperwork.  This is the first indication of what we were in for this week.  Every day is booked solid.   Come to find out there is no point showing up before 7:00.  They were not open.
7:30	Checked in at lab.   Or at least we tried to.  When we got to the lab, there was a huge line.  it was roughly a 30 minute wait just to check in the lab then another hour to get called.   There were so many people waiting.  No room to sit.  If you think that all these people are sick, it's a bit ridiculous to make them stand in line for check in for 30 min, then have no place to sit while they wait for their names to be called.  In fact, we saw one person about pass out.  By the time we got checked in, we were in danger of being late for my bone marrow biopsy.  So we left the lab area without doing anything.  Not exactly a great start to the day.
8:15	Bone Marrow Biopsy.   I do these sedated now.  It was a quick procedure.  No problems.  Just a bit sore in my hip.  Sedation is fun...
10:00	We returned to the lab.  Line was much shorter now.  They drew 18 vials of blood for various tests.  I also have to capture all my urine for the next 24 hours.  Fun...
10:30	Sinus X-Ray.  I guess since I have a history of sinus issues, they wanted to check things out. Guessing most do this since they are looking for any potential sources of infection.
12:15	Educational Class about taking care of a central port (Hickman).  It's almost identical to changing the dressing on a PICC line.  I;ve seen htis done a million times.
1:45	Chest X-Ray.  More radiation exposure, no super powers yet.
2:15	Pulmonary test.  This was an interesting one.  They tested my lungs.  It actually was a bit tiring.  I think I know what a baloon animal feels like now.
2:45	EKG:  checking out the heart I guess.  this was really quick and no big deal
3:40	Dental consult.  Basically the dentist is looking for potential sites that could cause infection.  He gave me the all clear.   At his point in the day I was so tired, and the dentist was running so far behind he didn't actually see me until 5:00.  I actually fell asleep in the room waiting on him.

Tons of walking today.  Lots of back and forth between buildings and most of the tests themselves went really fast.  For the most part, if we were running early we could go get in line at the next place and they got me in right away.  It was all going smooth until the dental consult.  Figures...the last test of the day. 

It would have been nice to have had a bit more info before today as to how many tests there were going to be. (Wear comfortable walking shoes!)  I don't actually talk to my Dr until Thursday.  It would have been helpful to have met with one of my primary doctors or nurses today to kind of kick this whole thing off.  I have plenty of questions, but no one to ask since the people I see now are mainly focused on the individual procedures.  For example, my radiation treatments show up on the itinerary, but my chemo does not.  No inidcation for when my central line gets placed.  Oh well, we'll hope for the best someone will tell us eventually I guess.    

It was a long day.  We at a big supper and now I am relaxing back at the hotel.   We have another full day tomorrow.  I'll update again at the end of the day. 

AML: I Am Blessed

Sunday night I head to Rochester to start getting ready for my stem cell transplant.  With each passing day I get a little more apprehensive about the whole thing.  I think one of the things that has helped is I stopped reading things online and asking questions about this a long time ago.

It's become obvious that there are few actual decisions to be made here and each experience is different.  I've pretty much just got to go along for the ride.  So I am really not looking ahead any further then next step.  I've found that being a little uneducated about what is to come means I stress less about it. 

For me the next step is to be @ Mayo by 7:15 am Monday.  At which time we they are going to do something.  Tune in Monday to find out what.  We'll both be surprised.   OK, I won't be totally surprised, I know the first procedure is my 6th bone marrow biopsy but beyond that I have no idea what is going on next week. 

I am excited for the benefit tomorrow night.   I really like a good party.  Good food doesn't hurt either and there is going to be both.  We've been blessed by the generosity of everyone for this event.  I'll have to write more about this later as until we get there... I really don't have a full handle on who has been involved but it has been amazing.

Last weekend, we had a good bunch of family and friends come to the house.  I was stuck in the hospital until about 3:00 Saturday afternoon.  When I got home, the kids had a new swing set.  the yard work was done, garage cleaned out, inside of the house painted... so much work was done.  

I have to admit I've really struggled with asking for help.  Bottom line though is that we've gotten to the point we needed it.  I am fairly certain I've not done enough in my lifetime to deserve how much support has suddenly come our way.  I'm blessed to have a great family, dedicated friends and to be from a community where people that you may not know or have lost contact with, will drop everything to help in whatever way they can.   Having a herd of cute kids doesn't hurt either.

Andy and I had the chance to meet with Patty & Betsy today.  Patty's husband and Betsy's daughter both have gone through the stem cell transplant.  I've also been able to keep in touch with others I have met along the way.  Most of which I was diagnosed before, but they have already gone through their transplant.  These individuals have helped provide guidance and reassurance and best of all... everyone is doing fine.  It has been uplifting. 

I have been pretty down about things lately.  I've said it before and will again, I've been provided help just when I need it the most.  Between the benefit, help at home and reassurance from my fellow chemosabes these last few weeks, I am doing much better.

Someone needs to invent a word that means more than thanks.  Every time I say thanks, it seems inadequate.

Benefit: T-Shirts

We've had a very generous donation of T-Shirts.  Thanks to Jordon Weideman and Joe Reints for putting these together and donating them.  They will be available the night of the benefit for $10.   If there is anyone not attending the benefit that wants one, let me know (comment here) and I'll see about setting something up. 

AML: Voices in my Head

In my last post I briefly mentioned it had been a trying weeknd.  I am feeling MUCH better.  Good news is my ANC and white count are rising.  I have a WBC of .4 and ANC of 56.  It doubled since yesterday.  Better news, I have not had a fever for the last 24 hours.  I've still had a few headaches, but no fevers.

This weekend had flashbacks of my first round of Chemo when I was really sick and didn't know what was happening to my body.  By this point I've become quite attuned to what my body is telling me.   So that made a big difference in managing the fevers and the pain, mostly headaches.  Knowing what was coming allowed us to get in frontof the cycle of fevers and the headaches.  I was much more comfortable.  Don't get me wrong, it was a nasty weekend, but it was a more consistent and less stressful knowing that everything was being managed as expected. 

The infection this time was Streptococcus mitis.  So basically the bacteria that causes strep throat got into my blood stream.  This is the 2nd time I've had to deal with this one.  This round was a little rougher.

Tylenol managed the fevers well enough, but was not doing much for the headaches.  So I got Morphine to help with that.  Let me describe what the combination of Tylenol, Morphine and 103 degree fevers do to you...   First, try this...  Close your eyes for about 5 seconds and note the different shades of light, the spaces and floaties and whatnot that you see. 

OK, so imagine this... the game for me this weekend with the fevers and meds was to sit there for about 20 seconds with my eyes closed like that, watching all those things take shape and turn into different things.  Like making things out of clouds in the sky. This images were very detailed.  At some point I noticed as I tilted my head things would shift directions and take different shapes and I could switch perspecitive.  The things I could range from something as benign as a landscape to something out of a Tim Burton movie. 

I honestly have no idea how much time I spent this weekend doing that.  And if you had looked in my window, you'd have seen a guy with this eyes closed turning his head slowly in all different directions.  Sounds fun right...trust me, I saw some twisted stuff.  At one point the overnight nurse came in and asked if I was on the phone.  Evidently I had been carrying on a conversation with someone.  Must have been some of the voices in my head.  By the time Monday came, I asked if they had something a little less trippy.  They switched me to a synthetic narcotic Oxy-IR.  The voices and I are no longer in speaking terms. 

This trip to the hospital screwed up my schedule a bit.  No trip to Rochester this week.  Here is the timeline now. 

April 21st Benefit
April 23-26th Rochester for testing
April 28th Start Chemo
May 3rd Stem Cell Harvest (Germany)
May 4th Stem Cell Transplant (Rochester)

Don't forget to check out the benefit site, www.jongrann.com for silent auction items and the new iPad Raffle.   Hope to see as many as possible in Volga on the 21st. 

Thanks for the prayers this weekend. 

Just A Quick Update

Just a quick update, since it has been a few days. 

Last Thursday morning I woke with a sore throat and pretty much knew I'd be headed back to the hospital.  I went in for my daily checkup and sure enough I started running a temp.  So I've been batteling a Strep infection again in my blood stream. 

It was a rough weekend with fevers north of 103 degrees.  I went Thursday until Monday pretty much not eating.  The headaches were terrible.   Jon was not a happy camper and looked pretty rough.  There was great improvement today.  I still am running a little hot, but not bad.  Headahes are mostly gone.

I am still pretty groggy from the meds, but for some reason I am having trouble sleeping.  With me feeling better I can post more often. 

For now I have updated the silent auction items on the benefit website: Benefit Site   Here are some of the latest:

There is also a new iPad raffle.  The Willow Lake class of '96 (my class) donated the 64GB Wifi iPad 3.  Raffle tickets can be purchased on the Benefit Site or from any of the others running around selling tickets. 
​

Benefit: New Site, Transplant Timeline

Since there was so much info regarding the benefit, it was getting to difficult to present on my blog.  Check out the new site for all things related to the Benefit on 4/21.
Grann Benefit Site

You can get info about the benefit as well as raffle tickets and see what's coming on the silent auction.

There have been some very generous donors for the silent auction.  More things coming every day.  

I hope to see as many people as possible.  The transplant is confirmed for May 4th.  I start tests on April 12th in Rochester.  They work me over pretty good to make sure I am good to go.   I will be home for the benefit as Mayo did push things back the week as I wanted.

The timeline is pretty well set now.

April 12-17: pre-transplant testing in Rochester
April 21: Benefit in Volga, SD
April 27: or 28 begin chemo in Rochester
May 3: Donor stem cell harvest (in Germany)
May 4:  Stem cell transplant in Rochester
August 11:  Day +100