I arrived in Minnesota on Saturday evening the 24th. Troy was excited for my arrival but very exhausted. The growth factor shots are given two times a day and they are causing alot of overall body pain. This whole experience over the past months makes you realize how strong an individual can be even when they may not want to be.....because...they have to be...to cope and to hope. Today was day one of getting the stem cells removed. We were at the hospital for 7 hours. Troy has a port for chemo but it doesn't work for the stem cells so they had to give him an iv in each arm. They missed 4 times on the right arm....due to too many valves...they always say wow great veins but then they go right through them. It took 3 nurses to get it. OUCH!!!! Troy will live with this disease forever. I hope that they find a complete cure someday. It's hard to imagine we will be going through this indefinately. The nurse just called and said that Troy collected 6 million of the 8million stem cells he needs, so it looks like we will probably only have one more day of collecting. However, his creatine level for his kidneys has gone up to 2.4, it was 1.8. We are getting ready to go and get his growth factor shot and more blood work. Then back to the room to relax and start over again tomorrow.
We want to thank George for coming here for two weeks, Shelley and Ryan for having our children and Susan for watching our dog so I can be where I'm needed the most right now. This whole experience has been humbling.....you never think this will happen to you....for now we will take this one day at a time... be thankful....and continue on with the chemo when we get back. We are looking forward to seeing everyone at the fundraiser and want to express how thankful we are of your willingness to help us through this journey:)