HANNA'S SECRET TO SUCCESS

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 lunch, and left for home hours before.  No matter.  We laughed some more.

That part of Hanna has not changed, even from within the challenges of fighting a threatening cancer disease.  If anything, she has stepped that trait up a notch.  As we maneuvered the vast halls of the Mayo Clinic the past two days, she, without ceasing, cheered EVERYONE on that we came across.  Random positive comments to random strangers.  Comments about how nice of a day it is.  How great the staff is.  How amazing Mayo is.  "Come on in.........there's room for you too in this elevator!  It's gonna be a party!  What floor should I press for you?"  "I have flames on my wheelchair because he pushes it so fast!" (She does have the absolute coolest wheelchair in the entire clinic and everyone notices it and comments on it.)

The past two days she has made dozens of sick, infirmed, hopeless people smile.

THAT is how she is beating this cancer.  She totally believes she can beat it and believes everyone else can beat their disease too.  She cheers herself on.  She cheers me on (and I'm not even the one that is ill).  And she cheers everyone around her on.  Hanna's secret.  Now you know.

Yes, I'm the luckiest man ever.


Report on Day -16 (Tuesday)

They start work early at Mayo.  Check-in was at 7:30am.  (Mind you, that is 5:30am back home.)  We were greeted by a very cheerful medical coordinator who was waiting for us and glad to see us.  She went over paperwork, went over our schedule, answered all our questions.  She asked for Hanna's Advanced Healthcare Directive (legal form that addresses what to happen if she becomes comatose/terminal).  As she handed it over, I said "you can have it, but you won't be needing it."  The cheery coordinator wasn't sure what to think of that.  So I clarified, "she's gonna be just fine.  So you won't be needing that."  First laughter of the day.

First real appointment:  The mother of all blood draws.




They took nearly a full gallon of blood from her vein.  24 vials full!  See the list of them all on the computer screen.  And then the fun part, a 24-hour urine test.  They gave her a gallon jug to pee in for the next 24-hours.  I'm not sure what is worse, carrying that jug around the clinic, or bring it back heavy and full of pee.  (Fortunately, we hid it in a huge bag.)

Next up was a bone marrow biopsy.  This will tell us exactly what percentage of her bone marrow is still cancerous.  It was 80% when she was first diagnosed.  The procedure involves drilling into her hip bone to extract the marrow.  It's much like a tooth being drilled.  There was an option to be sedated for this procedure, but Hanna chose not to.  (She's' one tough girl!)  A bit of Lidocaine was injected clear to the bone, which produced more pain than the procedure did.

Next was a Chest Imaging Exam.  Gotta make sure the lungs are working properly.

The last procedure was an Echocardiogram.  They glued all sorts of electrodes onto her chest and then took an ultrasound of what her heart was doing.  She got to watch the monitor, kinda cool.

The Echocardiogram was schedule for 6:20pm and we were leaving about 8pm.  Long day, even though we did have a couple of breaks to go back to the house and check on Frivvy and eat lunch and then dinner later on.  (Our home is only four minutes away from the clinic).

As we started to leave the clinic, it was obvious we were the last ones out.  All that were left in the vast halls were some janitors and security guards.  As we approached the doors to the parking garage, we could see they were gated and locked shut.  Yikes!  


We debated between finding an inpatient room with a couple of beds, or finding a different way out.  We finally came across a friendly and concerned Security Guard that had sympathy on us and helped us escape out of an emergency exit.

To celebrate the end of a long and productive day, we stopped at Cherry Berry for some frozen yogurt.  (Recent research has definitively shown that frozen yogurt can kill certain cancer cells.  Even if that is not true, it can't hurt to try, right?)


Report on Day -15 (Wednesday)

We started today's adventure by meeting with a nurse from the transfusion area.  She went over with us step-by-step what the process of most of the Stem Cell Transplant will entail.  Like all Mayo Clinic staff, she took all the time we needed to answer our questions, show us around, and even give us instructions of how to get into the place on the weekends and after hours.  (This may have been helpful when we got locked in the night before.......but would not have been quite as adventurous.)  She even showed us a video about Stem Cell Transplants and showed us the port that Hanna will be wearing to take blood/stem cells out and put them back in as well as drugs and other stuff as needed.  The port will run from her shoulder area through her vein down to the entrance of her heart.

A Pulmonary Lab Test was next.  She got to breathe into something that I picture being like a booze test when you get pulled over.  I spent time, as mostly usual, in the waiting room.  Except this one was on the 18th floor of one of the Mayo buildings.  Very cool view looking East.


As we waited for the next appointment, her cell rang and they wanted her to come back there for more testing.  Something wasn't right with the first round of tests, so they had some more to do.  They are thorough and we appreciate that.

Next was an Electrocardiogram Test.  The heart must be strong to handle a Stem Cell Transplant.

Finally, Hanna got to have a Holter Monitor installed on her chest.  It's some electrodes glued to her that go to a transponder of some sort.  She gets to wear that for 24 hours so they can have a record of her heart doing its thing over a long period of time.

It was about 3pm when they finished with us, which we were both grateful for because we were exhausted.  All three of us took a long, much needed nap.


Flames and flowers at the Mayo Clinic.  Thanks for your support and continued prayers.  We pray for you too.  And cheer you on.


Today's Miracle:  One of our good friends we met in Clearlake wrote us a poem that really touched us.  People are amazing!!


Hanna's Real-life Two Bits:

Overheard in our house about an hour before dinnertime tonight as I started to make chicken soup:

Hanna: Greg, do you know where we put the chicken broth when we unloaded the groceries the other day?

Greg: I don’t even remember ordering chicken broth when we did our grocery order.

Hanna: Well, I know I wrote it on the list of things to buy, but maybe I missed it when telling you what we needed to order. No matter, there are some chicken bullion cubes here in the pantry that I can use to make broth.

Greg: We’re getting too old to even manage our own groceries!

Hanna: Now where is that onion for the soup? I remember unpacking it from the grocery bag, but I can’t find it in the pantry, on the shelf, in the fridge...........

<looking around the kitchen, when a faint memory hits about putting all the dry/canned ingredients for this week's meals in the bottom drawer>  <opening the bottom drawer>

Hanna:  Oh, here’s that onion! And look, chicken broth!

LOL!

Anyone want to come and help us with groceries and make sure we don’t starve?




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