Hanna's Grand Adventure (aka How Hanna Beat Cancer)

Official Chemotherapy Day.   Or, it easily could be called "Popsicle Day" by Hanna.  One of the horrible side effects of this particular Chemo is it wreaks havoc with your lips, mouth, esophagus, and all remaining digestive organs and such from there on down.  To alleviate this painful side effect, the patient sucks on something cold.  The Chemo doesn't like cold and will not damage the cells in the body if they are cold.  So, for 30 minutes prior to the treatment, during the treatment (75 minutes) and for 30 minutes after, the patient consumes massive amounts of delicious popsicles and ice chips. Here are some pictures of Hanna enduring her Chemotherapy/Popsicle Day: "Bring on the poisonous, toxic Chemo!  Let's kill those nasty buggers!  DEATH TO CANCER!!"  She was ready and even excited for the ordeal, adorned in her brand new flowered and required official Mayo N95 mask. The day started with a stop at the Mayo Pharmacy where she was given a ton...

Thank you for your prayers.  Not only was the Stem Cell Collection successful, but each day as they fastened the tubes to her, we both felt a sweet peacefulness and calm.  The power of your prayers is very much felt. Here are some pictures from this past week's line up of Cancer Adventures: On the machine.........blood going out one tube and into the machine.  Stem Cells sorted out.  Remaining blood going back into Hanna via the other tube.  Her entire blood supply circulated into the machine and back 7.5 times each treatment/day. Apheresis Machine collecting Hanna's Stem Cells.  It is deductible if it is an ordinary and necessary cost of your business.  The nurse said they cost about $150,000. Close up of the port and the tube in and the tube out. Growth Formula shot in the belly.  Twice a day. Yay!!!  Stem Cells!!  This is from Day 2, there are 2.25 million stem cells in the bag.  Red blood cells sink to the bottom.  Buffy Co...

 Hanna had surgery today!  Hopefully it's the only surgery she'll need.  Details below. Today is the fourth day of pretty much the same thing.  Get up early. Run to the Mayo Clinic (three minutes and 55 seconds per my GPS, but really takes 45 minutes if you count getting loaded into the car, fighting traffic & pedestrians, finding parking, getting through security, and wheeling Hanna down the long hallways until we arrive at her appointment desk, hopefully early). Get shot.  Talk to nurse.  Go back home.  The Growth Factor (aka Nivestym) made Hanna drowsy.  So I took a few pictures of what she and Frivvy did after the shot.  Here you go: And I watched a lot of football...............🏈 It is fairly foggy here most mornings, especially early. Hanna remains in good spirits, even while waiting for her Growth Formula shot, which is administered in the stomach. The wall in her surgical prep and recovery room today.  Happy to see Jesus....

 First, some cool pictures from deep inside the massive Mayo Clinic. These pieces of artwork adorn/hang in the front main entrance.  After hours of discussion, Hanna and I have determined that they are blown-up replicas of actual Multiple Myeloma Cancer Cells. There is no shortage of wheelchairs at the Mayo Clinic.  And they tend to disappear, similar to shopping carts.  A Security Guard told us there is a FaceBook page showing the weird and far away places Mayo shopping carts have been found.  One found in New Zealand wins the prize for most far away.  Hanna's, with her flowers and hot racing stripes, is the coolest and most popular.   The view looking out our Exam Room today on the ninth floor, looking West towards home.  Interesting that nasty yellow jackets were hovering around the window (outside, thank goodness).  I guess they can fly this high.  Great entertainment while we waited for one of the most world-reknowned MM doctor...

We found ourselves actually LOCKED into the Mayo Clinic!  Details below.  But first, a picture of Hanna, EXCITED to check into The William J. von Liebig Center for Transplantation and Clinical Regeneration.  (Now that sounds official, right?) First, about Hanna. The one trait that attracted me to her and caused me to fall totally in love with her more than anything was how she literally lights up a room any time she walks in.  The way she greets and welcomes EVERYONE.  Just bubbly and smiles for everyone.  Our first pre-dating activity together was a golf match with her two sons.  I was by far the worst golfer on the course.  I lost so many balls!!  No matter.  She cheered me on the entire day, kept telling me how great I was, kept encouraging me, kept laughing with me at ourselves, and it was just a ton of positive fun.  When we finally made it back to the Club House, we found that all the other participants had finished, eaten lun...

Here, have a ROCKET!!  (You'll read what that's all about in a minute.) We are now in Rochester living in a fairly comfortable home we are renting.  We are doing well and Frivvy is excited about his new home, especially the screen door where he can watch other dogs and humans walking by and keep a careful watch on the several squirrels that live in the tree out front. We said goodbye to our huge rental van that got us and our stuff here. So, just what is a Stem Cell Transplant? A Stem Cell Transplant (SCT) has seven different phases. Phase 1: Make sure Hanna is healthy enough to endure an SCT.  I liken this phase to a rocket launch. (See cool picture above)  Every system must be tested and every system must be a go before Dr Gertz will approve the SCT.  "Heart?" "Heart’s a go!" "Liver?" "Liver’s a go!" "Kidneys?" "Kidneys are a go!" "Hanna, all systems are a go. You are cleared for takeoff." (See cool picture...

Greetings from Kadoka, South Dakota! (That's so fun to say!)  We’ve traveled two full days and have one more left to go. Tomorrow we will arrive at Rochester, Minnesota, home of the Mayo Clinic.  Hanna got so bored crossing South Dakota that she pulled out the Atlas and determined that our trip will entail driving through 42 counties in six states during 21 hours of driving time.  That is a new county every 30 minutes.  (Only a CPA would do that sort of analysis.) Frivvy is traveling with us. There is no way we could leave him behind, he is such an emotional support to us both. When either one of us are down or not feeling good he can tell right away and snuggles up next to us and puts his head in our lap. He is an incredibly sweet dog. So, why have we chosen Mayo Clinic?  Why Mayo Clinic? When searching for treatment for my cancer in 2018, we researched multiple cancer specialists and medical facilities and Mayo was always ranked near the top. So, when no local...