update: July 8

Here's the latest from Cindy:

I cannot believe I have been here for a week already. My mom and I are staying in a nice 3 bedroom townhouse only 5 min from Mayo. It is sooo quiet here and we have only had to turn on the air conditioning once. The radio stations all play 80s music which reminds me of central PA.

Rochester is a small town (90,000) with 75% of the people working @ the Mayo clinic. I think the others work @ either the SUPER Target or SUPER Walmart. Everyone here is genuinely friendly except for our neighbors who don't seem to like us. The 15 hr drive here wasn't too awful as we stopped in Pittsburgh one day to see Betsy for lunch and the next day in Chicago to see my sister.

The past week has been full of testing to get a baseline and also to make sure I am ready for the transplant. They took 14 viles of blood and did another bone marrow biopsy the first day. I've also had an echo cardiogram, lung and kidney tests as well as an EMG which is a more painful version of acupuncture where they stick needles in your muscles to check the nerves.

I met with the transplant team and my doctor yesterday. They are hopeful that I will be able to remain an outpatient if I don't develop a fever or get dehydrated. 70% of the patients are hospitalized but I am otherwise healthy so I should be able to remain @ home.

I start receiving growth factor shots today to draw the stem cells out of my bone marrow. This may cause some bone pain as the marrow expands. They are hoping that I will have enough to start harvesting the stem cells on July 11 (Mon). This will involve lying in a hospital bed for 5 hours for 3-5 days with IVs in both arms so I won't be able to move much. This is when the DVD player will be very much appreciated. They pull out blood from one arm and siphon it through a machine to get the stem cells and then give back some blood through the other arm.

After they finish this process I will find out when chemo starts. They will do high dose chemo for 2 days and then do the transplant the next day. They essentially give you back the stem cells after they poison you with the chemo. After this it is a waiting game to get all your blood counts back up. They say I will be @ my lowest point a week following chemo with my immune system @ zero. Then it will be a fight to regain my counts and strength. They say that it can take 1-2 years for the nerves to regenerate but everyone is different. Most days I am ready for this fight but sometimes I get sad wishing I was home playing with Adam or hanging out with all of you. I miss everyone, especially Adam, so much.

I have been swimming @ the local hotel pool and doing pilates too. I get really tired in the early evening so I try to go to bed early. The sun doesn't set until 10 pm so sometimes I am in bed before that. I am reading a lot and listening to music because summer TV sucks. My mom and I are getting along well. She just spent her first anniversary in 42 years away from my father. He's flying in on June 21.

P.S. The state bird is the mosquito

P.P.S. love and miss all of you!!!