Dad and Auntie Lin accompanied Mom and Auntie Jess to the Cancer Center for a day full of tests. Aunt Jessie was so brave. She gave 22 vials of blood for testing and research. She passed all of the heart tests with flying colors and asked a lot of questions. We are all so thankful that she is such a great donor sister to Mom. Aunt Beans stayed by Jess's side all day and kept her company. Beans also took lots of videos and photos to document the day.
Mom had several appointments mostly to prepare for full body radiation therapy. The radiation is the first step in the pre-BMT treatment and will eliminate Mom's immune system and make way for Aunt Jessie's stem cells to take over. The radiation oncologists measured Mom in order make her some lung blocks to protect her lungs during treatment.
The full-body radiation will likely result in infertility and cause Mom's thyroid to need permanent help from medication. It can also lead to cataracts and secondary cancers later in life.
Mom is so relieved that she had us through IVF just in the nick of time. She was first diagnosed with leukemia when we were seven months old. Getting AML during pregnancy typically results in having to terminate in order to start treatment since the disease is very aggressive and can progress rapidly in a matter of weeks. Mom is glad we had 'left the building' by the time the leukemia took hold. Whew!
The rest of the week Mom will lay low to avoid infection and take long walks while she is allowed outside. Mom will also be eating her favorite foods because treatment will cause her to lose her taste buds for a few months.
We had a fun day with V and Uncle Ban. We went to the park, made art and helped put together our new carpet. We spun until we couldn't stand straight and rode on Daddy's airplane. We also read books with Mom.
Here's Mom's and our day:
The radiation chamber:
Images of friendship and triumph:
