A year ago we had just gotten back from a family trip to Maui and my dad wasn’t feeling very well. When we flew home, he went to urgent care and never even stepped foot back home for almost 6 weeks after that. He was diagnosed with the dreaded AML w a FLT3 mutation which is not something that I ever recommend googling about ….statistically it has a poor outlook, but we are so grateful and thankful to modern medicine and all of the continued progress that has been made in the world of blood cancers even over just the past few years.  In the past year my dad spent 6 weeks, then 2 weeks, then a few days, and then four weeks in a hospital….my mom by his side every single one of those days. He went into remission, then relapsed, then went back into remission, then had something just short of heart failure, then had surgery on his face when an infection got a hold of him, countless rounds of chemo and then most recently, the biggest deal of them all, he had his stem cell transplant! 

Today is +38 days after his transplant. He has been home now for 2 1/2 weeks and has been doing remarkably well. He had a little bit of a hiccup with an allergy we think to the sun from all of the chemo and meds, which caused his face to swell up like a balloon, but aside from few minor  (In the grand scheme of things) events, he is doing well. In fact, 98%+ of his blood and marrow is already from his donor and his white blood cell count has already recovered and is in normal range. His first bone marrow biopsy after transplant was last week and that came back clean and looking good as well. We still have a couple of months ahead before getting to the 100 day mark and until then he will be going to the cancer clinic several days a week to continue to get checked on, get fluids and IVs through his port, etc. His biggest uphill battle is regaining strength and energy. After being sedentary for so long, and after this process wiping all of the energy from your body, it will be a process before he feels more like himself. He still shouldn’t be around anyone, he has to wear a N95 mask even when outside because even even things like the pollen in the air cause issues, but it certainly feels good to have him home!