Day 0
Today’s the day!
After being admitted to the hospital yesterday evening, we get our much-anticipated bone marrow/stem cell transplant we think sometime around noon today.
St. David’s South Austin – our home away from home
We’re told though it will be a packed room of medical experts with everyone having their specific role in the process, it’s somewhat anticlimactic given it’s what we’ve all been so tirelessly working toward for nearly three months now – a small bag or two of lifesaving cells hung for a currently unknown to us amount of time. A painless process just like receiving blood on any other day. But today is day 0: a new chapter in our journey.
Over the last three days (known as “minus” days; -3, -2 and -1) we’ve gotten six doses of full body radiation in preparation and today we’re finally ready to receive the fresh healthy cells our donor, a 24 year old male, donated yesterday. Tomorrow begins the incremental count upward, and just as the prep days leading up to transplant day (day 0) were “minus” days, each day on the other side of transplant are “plus” days. Tomorrow (the day after transplant) is called +1, the following day is day +2, and so on and so forth.
Each day forward is a step toward cured, and while we don’t know exactly what it will look like getting there, when that will be declared or when we’ll be able to safely see people again, we do know we are incredibly grateful to be here. Today is no doubt the start of a new and unfamiliar challenge, but we are up for it and we go into the future hopeful and ready to tackle each “plus” day with a positive/“plus” attitude.
Let’s turn up the good vibes
If you’re looking to share in this day from afar, I curated a transplant day playlist for us to listen to today, made of diverse songs about new beginnings and positive vibes.
