I couldn't be more excited. This is a huge milestone for me, my stem cells will be turning one! I am so happy. First and foremost I am proud of myself. This year has been hell. I have been through so much and I am so very excited to say that I have made it one year.
On 11/28/2018 I was given one of the greatest gifts you could ever be given, life. There is a man out there in Italy that saved my life. A young man decided that he wanted to be a donor and he answered that call, he saved my life.
When I relapsed with AML back in September of 2018 I was given a 20% chance of living. 20%! I was scared and worried. I will never forget the day the doctor called me. September 11,2018 was when I found out that I had relapsed and it was very serious. The doctors allowed me to finish up the week with my son and I had to report to the hospital on 9/17. When got to the hospital I was so nervous and I really didn't want to go through chemo again and I really didn't want to stay in the hospital for another month. In the end I knew I had to do it though. It was life or death for me at this point and the doctors were going to be very aggressive in treating me. About a week before I was allowed to go home the doctor told me that I was going to need further treatment and that I would get a stem cell transplant. After much deliberation and research I finally decided that a transplant was the best thing for me. if this is what was going to save my life then I was going to do it! SO my doctor contacted Be The Match and a search was started. To my doctors surprise, we got many hits and hundreds of donors were available. They contacted to the top 6 donors and within days there were two front men that were very willing to start the blood work to see if they were able to be my donor. I felt so blessed.
About a week or so later I found out that my donor was chosen and ready and all medical tests came back perfect and the transplant was a go! On 11/21/18 I was readmitted to the hospital to have my transplant. I was beyond happy, this transplant was going to save my life. I was in the hospital for Thanksgiving but my family was allowed to come up and visit me that day before I had to start the chemo regiment needed for transplant.
Boy was I unprepared, and I even went to the class the hospital provided.
I thought
that the transplant was going to be like all of the chemo I had had. I usually
had weakness and nausea along with diarrhea and bone pain so I figured that was
going to happen. It did, but 635462351684653 times worse! I had to learn my
body all over again and that was the most difficult thing. I mean just learning
which food I could handle because of my gvhd was hard. I had so many medication
I went home on I mean it was rough trying to swallow all of those and not get
sick. Walking was so difficult because I was so incredibly weak. I want to be
blunt and honest, having a stem cell transplant is hard but worth it. It took
me 5 months to be able to walk up the stairs in my home. Currently I have
bone/joint gvhd, stomach gvhd and skin gvhd.. It is so hard. I can't say
that enough but it was worth it.
A year later,
I am disease free. I am thriving. I do still get tired and some days I lay in
bed in pain but I am alive today because someone decided to save my life. Its
amazing and each day I feel blessed. Yes, the process of having a stem cell
transplant is the hardest thing I have ever done. Yes, there were times I
didn't know if I was going to make it but in the end I did and boy would I do
it again if I had to.
