First week down

Last Sunday was a very depressing day, this Sunday was much better, we’re adjusting. I can’t say it was fun and carefree, per say, but at least the black cloud hovering above our heads is a much friendlier grey.

The husband finished chemo Saturday and today he’s having the transplant and then we wait. We wait, and hope and pray (and do a little fortune dance) that everything works out and that his immune system kicks in to fight the leukemia swiftly and definitively.

It’s amazing to me how people adjust to whatever situation. I always wondered how people dealt with things like wars and disasters, my dad (who was a young man during WWII) said to me once that you adjust because that becomes your reality. It’s sad, but simple. I’m not comparing our situation to a war, or a terrible natural or man-made disaster (just think of the recent ones) but if people can adjust to such terrible ordeals they can definitely adjust to tiny, small-scale personal “disasters”. We’ve adjusted, it has become our reality and that’s how we get through it.

Of course, I can’t wait for this to no longer be our reality and for the husband to get home and be well so we can move on, but it’s not as bad as I thought. The kids are getting used to talking to him on the computer (the Girl even kisses the screen to say bye), I’m getting used to this temporary single-parenthood (hat tipped to actual single parents, by the way), the sun is shining and everything is looking up.

Now, for actual news of the husband: he’s getting the first transplant today, it’s like a blood transfusion with the original donor’s cells, so it’s almost like an autologous bone marrow transplant, meaning it’s easier to handle.  Then we have to wait for him to start feeling the effects of the chemo, which will make him feel really bad for a few days (hopefully not weeks), and then we wait for his blood counts to go up. He should be allowed to come home once his white blood cells are at around 1500 (normal is 4000) so he has at least some immunity to be able to leave the sterile room.

This is what we know for now, the rest they’ll tell us as we go along. Most of what they’re doing is experimental at this point cause of how soon the cancer came back. I was going to start that last sentence with “unfortunately”, but in keeping with my new more positive attitude I should have started it with “fortunately” since we’re lucky to live near a hospital that can and is willing to try experimental treatment in this case.

Wow, I started out thinking this was going to be a really short, quick update post, and I’ve been rambling on forever. Brevity is not my thing lately. Ok, I’ll shut up now, see you tomorrow for virtual coffee!