It was a rainy day Feb 28, 2006, when I was admitted to Sutter Memorial Hospital Bone Marrow Transplant unit. It was a small unit of only 6 rooms.  Each patient is in isolation because of having little to no immune system working. Every day, a cleaner came in and did the entire room top to bottom. The nurses were the kindest and very experienced in their field. It takes a special person to be that nurse.

I can’t exactly remember but I think I was given the Melphalan that day, and then the stem cells are given either the next day or the day after.  It’s the Melphalan that does you in as it kills everything along with the hope it’s killing the cancer cells.  Then it’s the stem cells that actually rebuild your immune system and white blood cells. But first, you go thru white blood count dropping to close to zero, plasma transfusions as your red blood count is so low, horrible diarrhea, and on and on.

12 years ago today. I’m one of the lucky ones as my SCT did work and I had 4 years of remission.

But it was singularly the worst experience of my life. Yet, I’m grateful for the medicine, my doctors and transplant specialist, nurses and of course my family. They got me through.

So Happy New birthday to me.