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

 The hair loss was expected and was eventually going to happen.  Happy Early Halloween!! THE GOOD:  This week the Transplant Team here at Mayo Clinic is celebrating their 10,000th transplant.  They were pretty excited.  Amazing to us was the fact that their very first Transplant patient from 60 years ago is still alive and was going to attend the party.  Note that none of us current patients, even the 10,000th, are invited.  Every one of us is immunocompromised and if someone brought in an infection or virus, the entire staff would be very busy for a long time.  But we can say we were there when number 10,000 took place.  We are in very good hands.  The average employee tenure here is 14 years.  Many we meet have been here for over 20 years.  Most of the doctors did their initial fellowship here and are still here decades later.  Having the right specialist, a doctor that does nothing but MM, is key to a proper recovery an...

Here is the lovely Miss Hanna at about 1am this morning, trying to figure out what sort of dinner her system will handle.  The softer the better.  Taste doesn't matter any more as her taste buds have been eliminated by the Chemotherapy Drug. Until today, our daily routine was, check in at the Transplant Clinic.  Get examined and consulted by a variety of medical professionals.  Go back home.  And usually that was it.  If something were to be wrong with the blood tests, etc., they would call and have us come back in for treatment. The closest we ever came to the "call back in" was a week ago Sunday when her Potassium levels had dropped drastically, likely caused by the extreme hydration during the transplant itself.  They had us come back to the Clinic to pick up some Potassium tablets at the Pharmacy. That all changed yesterday. They called and asked us to come back in as her platelets had dropped drastically.  The nurse told us to finish our lunc...

Hanna is doing well and appears to be on track to a miraculous recovery.  In this picture, please notice her beautiful hair. The cool chart below (cool, because us accountants LOVE charts like this) shows the level of misery the transplant causes and when.  The numbers are days.  The more the line drops, the more misery.  They call the bottom the "basement".  We are right now on Day 8.  Yes, in the basement. And even though we are in the basement, Hanna is doing quite well.  Things are not nearly as bad as other MM patients that have gone before us have said they would be, nor as bad as the Transplant Team prepared us for.  This is all good.  The main symptoms Hanna (and me too, indirectly) have and are struggling with is massive fatigue and EXPLOSIVE TOXIC DIARRHEA.  She spends a lot of time sleeping, although some days are better than others.  Her endurance level has dropped significantly as well.  It is a struggle for her to...

Yes, the transplant went smooth.  The nurses even gave us this cool certificate!   NOTICE TO ALL GRANDKIDS!!!!  Grandma Hanna hereby challenges each and every one of you to a popsicle eating contest!  Mind you, she ate SIX popsicles during Chemotherapy Treatment and now she believes that she can't be beat!  Next time we see you........POPSICLES!!  GAME ON!! Day 0 via Pictures: 5:30 am we were greeted by our nurse and this cool message.  It's been six months since diagnosis and mention of a Stem Cell Transplant.  We are finally ready. The lab tech in white gloves and white coat brought Hanna's Stem Cells to our room in a cooler (that is the box to his left with the purple top).  When he opened it, steam from the dry ice came flurrying out.  For a moment, I thought we were going to get some delicious homemade Root Beer.  But no, I was wrong on that.  It was the Stem Cells.  Here, in this picture, he is carefully thawing them...

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....