My REbirth Day

Well, the day we have been waiting for came. Today was my REbirth day! Those healthy stem cells they took out of my body a few weeks ago were put back in me in. What was taken out in the matter of 4 hours, was put back in in the matter of 10 minutes! Ok, not ALL of them, but half of them were put back in. They save the other half in case I need another transplant in the future. For me, I know I have my fingers crossed they find a cure before that happens for me. But, until then, I will just keep fighting!

The awesome Kurdish lady who handled my stem cells from back when they were taken out

Today was an interesting day. Honestly, very emotional for me. Emotional because it gives me that much longer here with my family and friends. Especially my little man who really has no idea why we are not at home and living in an apartment for a few weeks. He's still the happy loving little man Eric and I are raising. He is definitely one of my main reasons for fighting so hard. He fought hard to make sure the doctors found this cancer, so I need to fight hard so he has his mommy for a very long time.

The frozen cells

When we got to the Stanford Cancer Center, we waited to be called back. We were finally called back and I was weighed, then taken to my room. It was actually the same room I had when I had the all day chemo the beginning of May. When all of this Stanford stuff really started. My vital signs were taken and then Tara, the dietician, came in to see how things were going. How I was feeling and I or we had any concerns. Of course, Eric was concerned because I haven't had much of an appetite the last few days. Tara reassured us that is normal, but to make sure we find things I can keep down because I will be needing my energy over the next few days to weeks. She also made sure to let us know that I shouldn't drink just water. Making sure we will be replenishing electrolytes as well. For nausea she said that the 7-up we have is great, but to also make sure to schedule eating. Even if it's just a piece of bread or something.

There they go! Flowing back into me!

Stem cells flowing back in

My nurse, Jessica, was awesome. As usual. I've had so many different nurses here at Stanford and they have all gone above and beyond for us. When Jessica came in, she brought in my pre-meds and some saline. Pre-meds were Benadryl and a steroid. The steroid made my legs feel like I had restless leg and the Benadryl made me exhausted! Boy was I tired. About 30 minutes or so later, another team came in with my stem cells. Just two women. They explained the process to both Eric and I. Eric took the pictures since I was going to be a little preoccupied. I'll be honest too, I don't remember much of the process of freezing my stem cells. Mainly because I was a little nervous. And there were so many people in the room. A Nurse Practitioner, my RN, the two woman team with my stem cells, another doctor, and another nurse. Not to mention Eric and myself too. Whew!

Nurses singing "Happy Birthday" to me

There were a lot of rechecks going on also. To make sure I got MY stem cells and not somebody else.  Before I got my stem cells though, they gave me IV Zofran. Once that had been going, and all the rechecks were done, it was time to connect me to my stem cells. During this time, we just sat there. For 10 minutes. Watching as my stem cells made their way back into my body. Once that was done, I just sat there and rest. My nurse monitored me to make sure everything was ok and I got a little extra potassium because my potassium was low. Eric went back to the apartment for a minute because we needed some lotion. The water here is really making our hands dry from all the hand washing.

About 15-20 minutes after Eric got back, my nurse checked on me to see if I was awake. I was, so she said she would be right back. This part really got me choked up, but I think I held it back well. My nurse and a bunch of the other nurses in the unit came in with a small cake and sang "Happy Birthday" to me. You always hear about this stuff, but when it's you, it's so much more. Of course, it's not my REAL birthday, but it is my REbirth day. A second chance so to say. Even though my MM was caught very early, before any symptoms, we know it could have been worse had it not been found so early.

With my AWESOMELY delicious cake

Something Eric just told me. I knew we had enough for 4 transplants. Well, today they gave me double the stem cells. They don't want them to go to waste, so I got more than a normal transplant. Like I said earlier, I got half of what was taken from me a few weeks ago. Now that's pretty cool.

Because I still need to make sure my mouth is cold, popsicles! Tara, the Dietician, recommended it!

Well, I am exhausted again. This will most likely be happening for the next few days. So, I am off to bed. I can not thank all of you enough for your continued support, prayers, happy thought, good juju, and everything else. We feel so lucky to have all of you in our lives.