Okay, first I have to apologize because I had promised this either Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning and I didn't get it done. I didn't have ALL of the information until this morning actually so pleased cut me some slack.
1. Little brother, Paul (and I use that term referring to age only - is he 6'7" for crying out loud!), will be flying from San Diego to Des Moines on September 30th. His round trip air fare is BEING FULLY PAID BY ANGEL FLIGHT AND SOUTHWEST AIRLINES! More prayers answered. Southwest doesn't fly into Cedar Rapids but we are more than happy to pick him up and take him back to Des Moines. Praise God for another little miracle!
2. He will go to UIHC on 10/1 for a meeting with the Donor Coordinator and have his medical work-up done that day. Then he'll come back and stay with me.
3. He will be given his chemo here at my home until 10/7. At that point, he will need to go to the hotel in Iowa City overnight and will donate his stem cells on 10/8.
4. I will be admitted to UIHC on 10/4 and will be started on heavy-duty chemo that day. I will receive chemo for between five and seven days and receive Paul's life-giving stem cells on 10/10.
5. On 10/11 Paul well fly home to CA and finish moving into his new residence as he will have started his move on 9/28 and 29. As in he will move out of his current place on those days and get stuff put into the new place but will need to spend the weekend of the 12th and 13th making his new place feel like home. I'm so lucky to have him as a little brother. He's kind of put my life first lately and I can't thank him enough for that.
6. I will then be in the hospital hopefully growing a bunch of new stem cells and blood cells of my own from Paul's stem cells for the next 21 to 28 days and then hopefully be discharged home.
7 . My wonderful older brother, Don, will try and schedule his arrival on or about the same day I'm discharged and will be my caregiver (or "babysitter" as Megan says) for the next week or so. He will be a very important person in my life at that point. I will still be in the very early stages of recovery and will need his assistance doing pretty much everything. I can't go out in public other than to go to my appointments back at the U seemingly very frequently - to which Don will have to drive me - he will have to watch for any changes in my condition of which I may not even be aware. He'll need to make sure I'm eating properly, exercising as I should and all of the other babysitting responsibilities. Now, I'm not sure I'll ask him to do it, but my condo is to be thoroughly cleaned every week to avoid infection. I will be extremely susceptible to infection for the first 70 or so days I am home. Maybe one of my other friends can do that and he can have a well deserved break. Other friends have offered to come over and allow him some free time as well.
I am so blessed to have such an incredibly supportive family - brothers, kids, even my ex-husband is supportive and helpful.
I'm also blessed to have all of you, my family and friends who continue to pray for me and keep me in His arms. It is because of all the prayers that these little miracles keep happening.
Peace, love, hope and joy!
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