Day # 16 “remarkable”

Today I ran my labs early and a couple hours later met with Dr. Dingli.  My doctor since the beginning of this Mayo journey.  He is thoughtful, genuine, and incredibility brilliant.  He came in the room and asked me if I was in a hurry to leave?  and of course, I said YES.  He smiled and reminded me that we had talked about Day 18 – Day 21 being our goal release date and then went on to say I was doing ” remarkable” and that I fall into the top 1% of successful stem cell transplants.  I did not need to have any blood or platelet transfusions, which is highly common.  And Day 16 for exit or release, is also very uncommon.  Especially with my platelets and neutrophils back in “normal” ranges!   They are working overtime to help me build a newer and stronger body and I can feel it.  My energy and strength is truly amazing, but I am and will have fatigue for a while, of course.  So, after this fantastic news, we returned the to Rochester house to wait for the final appointment today at 3:00, to remove my line.  I crashed for a 2 hour nap.   Looking forward to a lot more of them over the next few days to catch up!

Thanks to Lori for checking in via text, right after we walked out of the Dr. office, I get the “Hey Lady, just thinking about you this morning”  and it seemed like another jinx moment in my life.  I was bursting with joy and my sister, Connee and my son, Andrew, were with me and we were laughing and carrying on.  But I cannot stress how important it has been for me over the past 3 weeks to get all of your random texts, jibjab videos, screen shots, cowboy videos, horse pics, sunset pictures, blue ski pictures, Hawaii beach pics, cat pics, triathalon pics, goofy pintrest fails, funny and touchy cards, and overall SUPPORT!  They are a huge distraction and were so much fun to share with the nurses when they were coming and going.  Breaks up the tedious routine, when we get a room laughing and sharing silly stories. Everyone has a story so you can only image how many new ones I have now from the Station 9-4 team.

This is the first time in my life that I think about the saying ” it takes a village”.  This was a team event from day 1.  From the very first day of my road trip to MN, you have all been there for me and the randomness of when I get a text is awesome.  From a 5:00 am to a 12:00 am, it seemed like someone out there was thinking about me and then I had family with me 24/7 for 3 weeks and that has been incredible to spend the 1 x 1 time together, with no outside distractions.

I am so blessed to have friends from Hawaii to NJ and everywhere in between.  Love you all more than you know!!

It is time to head back to the Mayo Spa for my final ” treatment”  🙂