A Plan That's Written Down

Okay, they gave me this plan on a piece of paper. It's supposed to be the real schedule.

From January 2-6 they give me one dose of brain radiation each day.

While that's happening, I get a pre-admittance on January 2. This allows me to go straight to the 11th floor, already admitted, if I get a fever or have other complications. On January 3, they place a "Hickman catheter" near my clavicle. It has tubes that goes up my carotid artery and also down to the Vena Cava, near my heart. They'll use that to administer chemo and to draw blood.

On Monday, January 9, I get my sixth and last dose of brain radiation. After that, from January 10-12, I get two doses a day of total body irradiation, six doses total.

Then on Friday January 13, I start chemo. I'll be in the hospital for that, and I'll get chemo for three days. On Monday, January 16 (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day), I get a one day break, and then I get the cord blood cells, my transplant, on Tuesday, January 17.

After that, I'm told it usually takes about 20 days for cord blood cells to engraft and for my blood counts to start rising. Then we try to manage (or avoid) Graft-vs-Host disease for another 80 days before I can leave Nashville again. That will be the end of April.

So that's the official plan!