Day Minus One

Sorry. Getting a late start on this so I'll just jump into it. I'm a husband and father of four from Central Arkansas. I was diagnosed with Leukemia (AML) in April of 2008, and after having undergone several chemotherapy treatments with successful yet shortlived success, am now in need of a stem-cell transplant in order have a chance at a little more of life. Fortunately, with the help of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX and the National Marrow Registry, I was able to find a closely matched unrelated donor. I'll get into stem cells and donors and transplant stuff later.

I've been in Houston for the last week preparing for my transplant, which will happen on July 1st. My doctors say that if all goes well, my stay in Houston will be somewhere around 100 days. They say the clock starts on the day of my transplant. I'll be on inpatient status for about 30 days, after which i will be discharged, but will have to come back to the hospital for daily labs and check-ups for about another 2 months.

So, here we are, me and my wife, Steph, temporary residents of Houston, TX. We moved here about two weeks ago to get settled in and hopefully Steph will be able to go home to see our kiddos. Luckily, we have family here watching out for us as well as family back home picking up the slack. There are several other people that have helped us through this so far that would like to be kept in the know as well, so i'm going to attempt to keep a daily update of what's going over here. I can honestly say that the week that i have spent in the hospital has certainly been a challenging experience already, so please excuse me if i come off as "me" at times.