The Time is Drawing Near

It's been a challenging few days. We got a call from the Transplant Unit a few hours before our appointment to notify us that we are scheduled to be admitted to the hospital on Friday to begin the preliminary workup for the BMT. It felt really odd to 'hear' the scheduled time and dates. I will admit I've been dwelling in a 'space' for the last two days and have felt very displaced with my emotions. It's like you know you've been talking about it for several weeks, but now you are scheduled in less than 48 hours to begin the process.

During our appointment, we found out Mireya's bone marrow isn't functioning at the same capacity it was initially because her levels are not being sustained for even the minimum length of time and expectancy. We received a transfusion less than 5 days ago and her platelets had already bottomed out, so we had to get another one. We're also edging closer to the threshold of transfusions our team is comfortable with prior to going into a transplant, so we had to go back to the clinic today to recheck levels and everything came back good.

Mireya will receive chemotherapy for 6 days. The bone marrow harvest from Jalen and transplant will take place next Wednesday. We've been struggling with what to do about her hair. We've received varying degrees of what to expect from 'it will fall out, trickle out, thin in areas or come out in patches'. Hmm I don't like any of those anticipated results. We do understand the hair loss is a physical response to a chemical process and it affects everyone differently. Our hopes were to diminish the level of trauma surrounding 'all things hair' if we could. We talked about just buzzing it off, and donating it to Locks of Love. Most of the people I spoke to ended up cutting their hair at some point during the process anyway, so why not start there? Surprisingly, Mireya was on board with the idea, the mission and the plan. I told her it would be as short as her brothers to which she smiled. I also told her I would do it with her which she also thought was great! She was most excited about being able to give it to a child who needed it, because she knows it will grow back. Some plans are meant to be broken, the closer we got to the actual appointment time, the less certainty I had about doing it. After some divinely appointed conversations and phone calls we decided to wait and see how her body responds to the chemo. If we feel the need to cut it at least we know Mireya understands (as best she can) what could happen and is seemingly ok with the plan.

Emotions are emotions and faith is faith. The way we feel does not alter what we believe. God is still in control. Please keep us in your prayers. Specifically that Mireya will have minimal to no effects from the chemo or other medications she'll be taking. We have a great support/admin team of family and friends working with us. If you've indicated you wanted to help you should be a part of the group we've created and you will receive communications from them as they work on coordinating tasks to help us out during this time. We were originally told this initial process could take 8-12 weeks. Realistically that could be as little as 5 -8 weeks. So we're also praying for a swift recovery. Thank you so much for your continued love, support and prayers.