Birth Day

Today is Day Zero, the start of a new life, with new marrow and soon-to-be new blood, and most importantly, very soon cancer-free!

The last bag of Sissy's stem cells are dripping into dad's veins, and within the next few weeks should dominate his system. Dad has weathered the final round of chemo remarkably well, blood pressure, temperature and vitals all normal. He is walking 3-4 miles a day (they really emphasize activity here), and his spirits are very good. Perhaps he's been more contemplative, but imagine approaching a new birth without an infant's mind- I think we'd all be very contemplative. There is so much to do, so much to be!

Mae West would be impressed, Carl is really delivering, and because Sissy is so healthy, he'll just keep compounding these high rates of return!

Here are some photos from the past couple of hours. Thank you for your prayers! Please say a prayer for dad's sister Susan who is battling a c. diff infection, but we here she is on the mend- can't come soon enough!

"Man's main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality." Erich Fromm

Checking into Resort MDA

Dad checked into the exclusive (pronounced exgloosive) 5-star resort on the 17th floor this evening. Checkin was easier than a Four Seasons, except dad will have frequent middle of the night checkins. He orders room service for every meal, or whenever he wants, and has a roof deck to go up to (complete with a great piano).

Tonight is just a hydration night, tomorrow the Busulfan and fludarabine begin and will go on for four days. The busulfan is so good for the body that dad actually has to take up to 3 showers a day to keep from burning his skin. "Heart Healthy."

Then he gets two days of "rest" and Sissy's stem cells will drip into dad's veins, and will find their way into the bones where a mighty battle will be waged between Sissy's cells, dad's leftover marrow cells and any leukemia cells that will be lingering (hopefully there will be none).

Before dad got going, we ventured up to the roof deck and found a poor unfortunate grasshopper, 24 floors higher than he should be, clinging in for dear life. We looked up the symbology of seeing this curious fella, and here's what we found, pretty neat:

Grasshopper Symbolism — The grasshopper is associated with astral travel. They have the ability to leap through time and into space where the true mysteries of life exist. People with this medicine have the wisdom necessary to overcome obstacles efficiently and are able to jump into successful ventures without preparation or planning. When the grasshopper appears to us we are being asked to take a leap of faith and jump forward into a specific area of life without fear. Usually that specific area is one that we have avoided and is often connected to change on a larger scale. This can represent a change in location, relationships, career or just in the way we perceive ourselves.

Grasshoppers can only jump forward….not backward, or sideways. So, when grasshopper shows up he could be reaffirming to you that you are taking the right steps to move forward in your current situation. Or it could be that he is telling you to go ahead and move forward, getting past what is hindering you. This is why grasshopper is the symbol of good luck all over the world. Grasshopper’s ability to connect and understand sound vibrations is why he is also a symbol of your inner voice. he could be telling you to trust yours.

http://t.answers.com/answers/#!/entry/what-is-the-spiritual-meaning-of-grasshoppers

No Residual Leukemia

The Wood family had some stressing news on Monday, dad's youngest sister Susan has a baseball-sized brain tumor that will be resected on Friday.  Our prayers will be with you, Susan, as you prep and go to surgery on Friday, we know you'll pass this with flying colors, you are a bionic woman!

Dad is forging the good-news path for Susan, we found out yesterday that the most recent bone marrow biopsy shows no residual leukemia left, the bone marrow aspirate had a 1% show of cancer, but dad's doctor said his condition was as good as it could be going into the transplant which will officially start with chemo on the 19th and the transplant on the 24th.  Today, he's getting tested to see how his body metabolizes Busulfan, which is one of the next chemotherapies he is getting next.

We'll start posting more on the blog as he rolls into treatment.

Stem Cell Factory

Sissy had a successful donation of stem cells today, she is a machine!  We won't know until the morning if they have enough stem cells for dad's transplant, but if not, she will sit in the donation chair tomorrow morning and knock it out.  She's pictured below in the bed, where she was forced to squeeze the ball for 4 hours straight.  No naps, which was hard given the 2:30 am unplanned wake-up.  Hopefully she will rest well tonight, and we have a massage at MD Anderson to help her relax.

Over the weekend, we toured around the Houston area, going to the Space center and the Museum of Natural Science, our favorite so far.  Jon had a great 33rd birthday, his great friend Chad Mason joined us for a nice meal and some drinks.  His new espresso machine has already had over 40 shots pulled in the last 4 days.

Dad had a bunch of appointments today, his white blood cells are back to normal, but we were advised they aren't as strong as a typical adult.  In fact, after the transplant, dad will be just like a baby- even though his white blood cells will bounce, he won't have any antibodies in his system.  So his immune response to the 99 strains of the common cold will start back at GO, and I don't think dad will be able to collect $200.  He will need to get his vaccinations again, but thankfully Sissy's blood type will take over as dad's type, thus Steven will be able to donate platelets as dad needs them, which will really diminish any negative side effects.  Dad's first dose of the last round of chemo (the pre-transplant evacuation) will begin on September 19 and he is scheduled to receive Sissy's stem cells on September 25, after which he will be a new man with a woman's blood!