Rona updates: Move in and chemo

May 12, 2023

Thank you for the many messages and good vibes you are sending our way. It may take a while to reply to them all, but we are reading them and appreciate them greatly.

We are settled into the hospital and are about halfway through Rona's conditioning process. This week she's had surgery to place a central line and started three of her conditioning meds in addition to several (our last count is twelve) medications to prevent infections as her cell counts drop. Infection of any kind, even the common cold, is the greatest threat to Rona's life, which is why she is on so many prophylactic medications and Samtubia and I are spending a huge chunk of our time cleaning everything. Today we also made the call to place a feeding tube. 

Needless to say, Rona's starting to feel pretty "yucky", but she's being a total champ. Her cell counts are dropping already, which is what we want, and my body is one big achy stem cell factory. We are taking these as good signs that we will both be transplant ready next week. 

Rona's name means "mighty" in Norwegian. This week she has lived up to her name one hundred times over. We still wish she didn't have to. 

We hope you and yours are well. Give the kids in your life a big hug and an extra scoop of ice cream this weekend. Happy Mother's Day to all of you who are celebrating.