Day -3

We arrived at 7:30 am Friday morning (day -6). I got my first round of chemo, Fludarabine, and after many long hours without food or drink later, I finally had the trifusion catheter placed in my chest. There was some vomiting, and pain pills over night, and more vomiting, but by the next day, I felt alright. I'm given Klonopin at regular intervals as an anti-seizure precaution, so that keeps me sleepy and/or loopy for good parts of the day. On Saturday, (day -5) I received another dose of Fludarabine, and another chemo called Busulfan. Same thing, Fludarabine and Busulfan, on Sunday (day -4). Now it's Monday, day -3, and I've had my Fludarabine, stool softeners, Klonopins, blood-thinner shots to the tummy, and Lazix to drain off the many pounds of fluids my body's accumulated. Feeling much lighter now, for sure!

So. Some pros I've found to doing this chunk of the journey inpatient:

*Super nice nurses and aides that come to help at the push of a button. This includes bringing chocolate pudding. Happy Sara.
*Food that is ordered by phone and delivered to your bed. Awesome.
*And the best part? A kindly female aide comes and covers my boob/trifusion catheter with tagaderm adhesive,  so I don't have to awkwardly tape saran wrap to my chest every day!

Tomorrow is more chemo, the next day is the "rest day," and then Thursday, April 10th, is day zero, when I receive Laura's stem cells, and we all think happy thoughts of engraftment and new healthy immune systems and sloths and a cancer-free future.

Sorry folks. Klonopin's kicking in.