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Phase 2

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Cycle 5 is a wrap......well, Monday it will be.  After his final pill of Revlamid tomorrow, Matt will officially begin to move into Phase 2 of this journey; stem cell transplant.  Matt goes in for an entire battery of testing this week to make sure his body is healthy enough to undergo transplant.  If everything goes as planned, he will be admitted January 15th and begin the process of wiping out all of his healthy and unhealthy cells, in order to begin rebuilding healthy, cancer free bone marrow.  While we have known about this step since the beginning, it stirs up stress and emotions that we've been able to keep at bay for several months.  We find ourselves talking about numbers, levels and dates so much more and it has snuck back up on us as a brutal reminder of the journey ahead.  Not only are we trying to plan for the logistics of child care, hospital visits, visitors and transportation but we are also trying to prepare for the mental and emotional strength we are going to need in the months ahead.

A social worker from the University of Chicago has been wonderful so far in helping lay the groundwork of what to expect and how best to deal with everything.  She has offered a wealth of information about the actual facilities, the length of stay, the recovery process and even financial resources to help cover the cost of care.  While all of this is incredibly helpful, it also emphasizes the impact all of this is going to have on our lives for the first several months of the new year.

Currently, Matt is feeling pretty well.  This new chemotherapy really exhausts him and he ends up asleep on the couch each night by 8:00.  This is offset by the nights he doesn't sleep at all because of the high amounts of steroids he takes at the beginning of each week.  But besides a little extra snoring, life resumes as usual.

I apologize that this isn't a real update, but rather a post about......I don't even know.  I have discovered that I find it therapeutic to put this all down on "paper" and that it somehow gives me strength to keep a positive attitude.  The quiet times are the hardest because my mind can go places I avoid, so the clicking of the keys is just enough noise to keep me optimistic.

Thank you to everyone who continues to think/pray/text/email/call us just to say hello or check in.  Your love continues to be felt and we will continue to hope that all your positive energy, paired with Matt's physical and emotional determination is enough to kick this cancer's a$$.

All our love,
Matt & Mandy

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