Day 1 of Work-up Week

Abby and I headed down to Denver at 7:30 this morning after our usual stop at Starbucks for a coffee for me and a cheese danish to tuck away for later for her (she can't eat until after her spinal taps and bone marrow biopsies).  She did average for nausea on the drive down.  It's been a great past week of no nausea and no anti-nausea medicine.  She hasn't been sleeping very well but having her feel better during the day than she has to date is a huge blessing.  We got there a little early so they loved us...until I told them I had let her have almond milk to take her morning meds.  We had to move her procedure an hour and a half down the road.  I felt so bad.  She had to wait until after her (now)1:00 procedure to eat.  She did pretty well.  They had her going on fluids through an IV all day to help.  During our wait, she had about 30 blood tests done.  They didn't need to take all her blood for that but  it looked pretty close.  The counter was lined up with test tubes.  These BMT folks are very thorough.  In one of those tubes was the test to see if Abby really does have lasting antibodies for the CMV virus so that we will know if Anna or Lily will be the donor.  We should know Wednesday morning, maybe afternoon.  Whoever it is goes down Thursday for their orientation and a one more blood draw.   They will also take some of the donor's blood and save it to give back to them after the procedure.  The transplant is scheduled still for the 13th of April.  The rest of the morning was spent going over the schedule for the next three weeks with the bone marrow transplant coordinator and meeting with Dr. Craddock (our bone marrow transplant doctor) for a quick exam and to ask questions we have.  Abby's procedure went well.  She was able to get about an hour of sleep which was good because she hasn't slept well that past few nights.  Our recovery nurse was very sweet and took very good care of Abby.  She got two warm blankets and extra time to sleep.  So....we are home now.  Abby is resting in her bed.  Her back is sore but her nausea is under control.  We can anticipate high fevers from the chemo she got but were asked to give her tylenol round the clock to help keep them at bay.  Yes, round the clock means we have to get up every four hours for the next two nights to wake her up to take a tylenol but it will hopefully keep her out of the ER with those high fevers.  We have a few other things to take care of before we back Wednesday.  I couldn't help taking a picture of the supplies we brought home.  I'll leave you guessing what it's all for.  The espresso maker in the background is definitely going to get used in the coming days!