Day 0

Today is the day that my mom will receive stem cells from a complete stranger! They should arrive around 6pm and she will probably receive them around 8 tonight. Her doctor says the process will be very uneventful, with a small chance of chills or a slight fever, but this is very unlikely. My mom is feeling pretty good. She has been able to eat and laugh. We are hoping the mouth sores don't come so she can continue to eat.

I can't believe we are finally at this point. While I try not to think of the past few months, it's hard to forget how I felt when my mom was first diagnosed. Our lives changed so much in October. Hearing the oncologist's plan for my mom seemed overwhelming, impossible. I pictured our family standing at the bottom of a huge, rocky mountain looking up. How would we ever get to the top? I had to stop focusing on the top and the future, and focus only on each day, each step to the top of that mountain and put it in God's hands. I think that is a lesson that everyone needs to learn at some point, because we really only have today. Not a single one of us is guaranteed a tomorrow. We can only focus on today and enjoy each hour we have together. Of course it is only human to worry and wonder about the future, but when I find myself worrying I remember the bible verse Matthew 6:27, "Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your lifespan?" We can't! Each day the peak of that mountain seems closer and closer, and today it feels reachable. I picture us reaching that peak soon, in a few months when things begin to feel normal, and then hanging out there for a while, enjoying the view!

I am so thankful for every little miracle God has given us to help us climb this mountain. He has put a selfless donor who is a match for my mom on Earth. He gave my dad a job in NH, where we have access to some of the best healthcare in the world. He gave my best friend Kellagh (and really one of my parents' best friends also) a job at the same hospital that my mom has spent so much time in so that we could have someone to help us stay positive and bring my mom breakfast in the mornings. He put us in contact with David, who also had double hit lymphoma and a stem cell transplant and was treated at Dana Farber, to provide us with information and so much hope. He put my mom in contact with Marie, a woman in our town who had a transplant a few months ago and has been in touch and offered advice to my mom about the transplant procedure, and made her feel like it wasn't so bad. And He gave us wonderful friends and family to make this process easier. There are so many more little blessings, really too many to list!

Thank you all for your continued support and love! My mom is almost to the top!