Thursday, February 1

Hi! Sorry I didn't update yesterday! We met with the transplant Doctor and it looks like I will be a good candidate for a transplant!! I have had an excellent response to chemo. What it looks like we will do is a Stem Cell transplant using my own stem cells. The procedure is the same as a bone marrow transpant, but recovery is a little shorter. We will only have to stay in Houston for 2 months instead of 3. They will give me a drug to increase my stem cells, then "harvest" them. I will be hooked up to the machine for about 3-4 hours a day for 3-4 days. Then they wil give me the maximum amount of chemo they can over the next few days. Then, I will stay in the hospital for about 2 more weeks, for a total of 3-4 weeks actually in the hospital. Then they will release me, but I have to stay within 15 miles of the hospital for the next month.
We will do the transplant after I finish all my chemo and have surgery to remove as much of the cancer they can. They will also replace my port with another type (central line or something?). We meet with my Onconlogist tomorrow and will find out how long we are going to do chemo.
Today, we had a day of R&R and rented a car and drove down to Galveston. We love the ocean! We ate at Joe's Crab Shack for lunch and I pigged out on Calamari. YMMMMM! We drove around Nasa Space Station on the way back and got a little lost in downtown Houston, but we got the car returned in time!
That's all the new info for now! We have chemo tomorrow at 2:30 and will be home tomorrow night. I heard it snowed again! I have not seen it snow once yet this year HAHA! We have been in Houston every time it snowed!
See ya all soon!
~Kasey and Kevn