I talked to Rebecca this week and I can tell she is getting a little nervous about the next part of this battle. While she didn't specifically say it with words, I just knew. She and Darin are people who prefer to lay low, who rarely complain, and who certainly don't want to ask for help if ever needed - even when they are going through the unimaginable.

 

Darin has been doing a lot of resting, as he tries to get a little stronger and to gain his appetite back.  Between all of his appointments for labs and infusions, multiple times a week, there are much needed naps.  Unfortunately, Darin developed another intestinal infection this past week which had him feeling pretty bad and not eating.  These are common in people who have recently been hospitalized, have weak immune systems and are on a lot of antibiotics.   Despite this setback, Darin managed to make it to all of the pre-transplant testing and informational appointments with his Bone Marrow Transplant team.  He had a bone marrow biopsy, spinal fluid sample taken, CT scan, Echo cardiogram, and lots of labs.  The good news is that his marrow and spinal fluid showed little to no cancer, his heart and lungs look good, and he is ready to go for the transplant!

 

Darin found out his donor is a "pretty much perfect" match according to the doctor.  All they know about the donor is that is a 21-year-old man, and that the donation is coming from out of the country. The donor database is world-wide, so if your best match is from another country - they collect the donation and fly it in, and the donor never needs to travel.  After one year, the family is allowed to send a message to the donor, which is something the Walds are looking forward to doing. (What a gift he is giving them!)

 

Darin will go into this hospital this Friday May 10th.  His transplant will be on the 16th.   He will be starting by receiving some very strong chemo (stronger than anything he has had yet), to "kill off his cells" prior to receiving the donor cells.  He will essentially have his donor's immune system then going forward.  This strong chemo needed pre-transplant will have Darin pretty sick during the upcoming weeks and it is what he is dreading the most in addition to the long hospital stay.  He will be on constant fluid antibiotics, anti fungals, and medications to suppress his immune system so they better accept the new stem cells.  He will need constant monitoring to watch for Graft failure of the transplant and GVHD (Graft-versus-host disease - which is essentially when your new donor stem cells tell your immune system to attack your own cells).  

 

Darin will be in the hospital for 4-6 weeks.  Following the hospital, he will need constant care at home and to be taken to his appointments for daily infusions for the first month.  The daily appointments will begin to ease in the following months if all goes well and will be decreased to a few times a week as he nears the 100-day mark post-transplant.  Darin is required to have someone with him at all times until he reaches his 100-day mark post-transplant.   That is when he will no longer need someone with him 24 hours a day every day, and he will be able to start driving again.

 

Can you imagine Darin not driving for 100 days... a guy that loves cars and "spirited drives"?  Also he will not be able to tend his garden, yard or flowers at all this summer (he has to avoid any exposure to any fungus and mold), which has him pretty sad since it is something he truly loves.  He will need to watch the flowers grow from inside this year.  But, the Walds hope to still attract many birds so the birdwatching can be something Darin enjoys (it's something he and his daughter Harper both enjoy doing together.  She can tell you about ALL the birds!).

 

Rebecca will be taking a temporary leave from work to be his main caregiver and that will be a very busy job (managing his daily treatments, medications, communicating with the medical team when needed, taking him to his appointments, assisting in cleaning his port, and his general care and well-being while he is recovering).  In between that, she will be "Mom".  She will be getting the kids to and from camps occasionally and trying to keep their summer routines as normal as they can be during this time.  They need that normalcy and to have summer fun, to be kids (wait, now teenagers!) even with all this going on. The Walds will no doubt have the added support of family and friends for all of this too.  

 

It was an overwhelming week learning about how Darin's life will change post-transplant -both in the short term and long term.  Almost everything will change, from what he eats, to how he lives his daily life.  It is, has been, and will be a long road for the entire Wald family. For now, ready or not, the next part of the journey begins!  Please keep the encouragement and support coming in the upcoming months.