Here at Last

Yesterday my wife and I made our return trip to Chicago. We saw the doctor and got the results of all the tests done 2 weeks ago and everything is good. No proteins present in the blood, no cancer in the bone marrow, so according to the doctor I am in complete remission. Revlimid has done the job and pushed the cancer back, so now is the time to proceed with the transplant. So now that I actually feel pretty good, we're going to make me sick. Seems foolish, but with transplant we are trading months of illness for the potential of years of remission. It's worth the shot. My sister, God love her, is at the hospital right now, undergoing apherisis, harvesting the stem cells that will be transplanted into me. I cannot say thank you to her enough, but I will keep trying. My date for going into the hospital has been set. I will goi in on Monday March 22, have six days of chemo, one day of rest, then the transplant. That makes the transplant date Monday March 29. Holy week, it seems like a good time for this to happen. getting a shot at new life during a festival of new life. I'll miss the Triduum services, but the trade is worth it. So nothing is tentative any longer, everything is set, ready to go. As John Adams sang in the musical 1776, I have crossed the Rubicon, let the bridges be burned behind me. It's time.

Deacon John
The Feast of St. Cyril of Jerusalem
Thursday March 18, 2010
St. Peregrine, Pray for Us
Blessed John XXIII, Pray for Us