Milestones: BMT -1

I don't know when it started happening but we sometimes say "let's go home" when we mean "let's go to the Ronald McDonald House, our home-away-from home."

Home.

When we first came to Milwaukee, it did feel a little like a homecoming. I mostly know where things are. I know how to speak the language (bubbler, anyone?) and I'm always running into someone I knew from growing up.

When we decided to enroll the kids in school, I had no idea how many people we would know in their new setting. People from so many parts of my life...like being at home.

Home.

But it's not home.
No matter how homey we make it.
No matter how many times we slip up.

But the old adage, "home is where the heart is," is so very true.
We are all together.
We are all in this together.
One room, two rooms, however much space we have....

Today two of the kids started school. Another one starts on Wednesday.
They know it is temporary. But it's still real.

 

Everything about this is bittersweet. What an incredible blessing for my family to be together in Wisconsin. We feel so welcomed and embraced by the Milwaukee Jewish Day School and Gan Ami Preschool communities and we are so very thankful to everyone who has made this possible for us. We miss our friends at Oak Terrace and Northwood and Lutz...but we know that we will return as soon as we are able.

But it is bittersweet. I'm a total sucker for the first day of school. I love the newness, the possibilities, the potential in a brand new year. I love the sharpened pencils and the shiny new folders. I love the ritual of beginning....(I just realized that I pretty much repeated the paragraph that I wrote last year when Sam began school.)

Last week, I watched on Facebook as my children's classmates in Highwood started school and I didn't feel sad, because I knew that my kids were still going to school. But today...I felt the heavy weight of the fact that instead of joining my children on the first day of school (that honor went to the Abba), I stayed with Sam while he had his PICC line in. A different kind of beginning, don't you think? Something new, something challenging, not quite a sharpened pencil....I am not quite sure how to answer when people ask about my kids -- yes, I have a second-grader. No, he's not enrolled in school quite yet...but these coming days and months will give him so many more years to have first-days-of-school, right?

Now he's all ready. Four lumens, prepared for tomorrow's Big Event.

Today was considered a "rest day." No more chemotherapy, but he did start a continuous cyclosporine drip. This is the main drug that will prevent rejection of the incoming bone marrow, and I am sure I will tell you more about it in the future. 

In the meantime, Sam hung out with Grandma today. He also got special permission to have her bring him some thin crust Lou Malnati's pizza, his favorite. Then he realized that his taste buds just aren't what they used to be...and that made him a little bit sad. But not too sad to eat four pieces. Woo hoo!

Sam and Grandma sharing their dragon games

Today was The Big Day for SuperMensch, Sam's donor. Today he finished up his course of filgrastim, to stimulate his blood production, and he underwent the procedure to extract his cells for Sam. I understand that he didn't have the marrow extraction (surgical), but instead had his peripheral blood stem cells removed. This is a lengthy process that requires him to sit very still with IVs in both arms. (Want to know what it might be like for SuperMensch? Here's a video.) This method of collection allows them to properly deplete the donated blood of its T-Cells in order to prepare them for Sam (remember, it's a T-Cell Depleted transplant, so you gotta deplete!) -- the processing is being done now and will be done by late afternoon or early evening tomorrow.

I am sure our SuperMensch is home by now, and resting. I hope someone brought him an awesome dinner and that someone else is tending to all of his needs. I hope that he posted something amazing on his Facebook page like "Today I saved a life" and I hope that everyone clicked "like" and wrote things like "LOVE THIS!" and that someone bought him presents and that people throw confetti at him when he goes back to work or school. I hope he takes tomorrow off and tells people that he deserves a vacation day because he GAVE LIFE TO MY KID.

Sam's transplant will actually take place sometime in the evening, when the cells are properly prepared. I know from most people around here that it can actually be very "boring" -- but how on earth can we be bored by this amazing event? Tomorrow is Day 0.

We are ready.