I’ve Made It To 100 Days Post Transplant!

In the bone marrow transplant world, reaching 100 days is a big milestone. The risk for critical side effects is less, blood counts have returned to normal, and a bit of energy starts to come back. Not much changes for the patient, in the sense that I’m still on immunosuppressants, which means I’m still susceptible to sicknesses. Because of that, I still don’t want to come down with an infection because it would most likely end up in another hospitalization. I have been asked a few times how many weeks I have spent in the hospital, and it has been months and months. Three open heart surgeries, multiple heart procedures, heart failure complications, two 3-week long chemo treatments, with 4 more weeks of treatment after that, and then my few days stays here and there. I was talking with a sweet woman from church a few years ago, and she had to be admitted to the hospital in the first time in her life, and she was in her 80s. She said she made it that long without ever having to be hospitalized and I thought, man, I’ve gotta get it together!

But outside of my atrial flutter I had at the end of March, which was not bone marrow transplant related, I’ve been able to stay out of the hospital. I did get admitted for two days after being discharged for neuropathy, but it was a very short stay. God has protected me in so many ways! Now granted this wasn’t my first rodeo when it comes to isolating. Being the transplant is because of a relapse, I thought whatever I did last year during those 6 months of treatment with no infections, I knew I had to live a similar life. And so far, God has graciously protected me from any crazy sicknesses, during the most prevalent “sickness” months!

You’ll still see me wearing a mask as I hopefully start to wean off my immunosuppressants over the next 6 months. Around family and friends I’m a little more free, but I’d hate to undo what we’ve worked so hard to get to! And this is where fear is hard to battle. As a BMT patient, fear seems to be a given because the whole goal after being transplanted is “to not get sick”. So you do everything in your power to stay as healthy as possible. We’ve had a few sicknesses go through our home over the past 100 days because we have a daughter that goes to school, but God has once again, graciously protected me from having anything serious.

Another big reason 100 days is a milestone is I’m scheduled to have a bone marrow biopsy this week to determine if any cancer cells are growing back. This was the test that discovered I relapsed last summer, so of course we are eager to get this one done. I still have 99.63% donor cells, which is pretty much perfect, so we are trusting forward that God will continue to protect my body from another relapse, but we also know that a relapse can happen at any time. So we are entrusting my future and our family’s into God’s hands, who already knows the future and the results of these tests. In Grand Rapids, you are put out for this procedure, where at Michigan I always chose not to be sedated because it was a much faster process that way, but boy I had some painful biopsies! So to not have to get geared up mentally to fight the pain on Tuesday, isn’t all bad either. We know cancer starts with one cell being inverted (in my case), so we just pray for God to protect this body from having to fight again!

This whole BMT process has taught me that God prunes in the most unexpected ways. Never in my wildest dreams, when I was 20 and thinking about the life ahead of me, that I’d face multiple open heart surgeries and battle cancer twice. I still can’t honestly believe it, even though we are living in it. But God has given me just what I needed to run each of these races. He has sustained my life from diseases that could’ve taken my life. And that only spurs me on to honor God in whatever He has set before me, knowing He has sustained my life and blessed me with life, for a very specific reason. Still being somewhat isolated and needing to be careful, I do wonder how God will use this for His greater glory, but I pray in some way He has already.

I think of that person who is fighting their own battle. Whether it be relationally, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, you name it. We all have a battle we are fighting. They all just happen to look different. But God continues to sustain you through this because He has a much greater purpose than our human eye can see. And we get a front row seat to showcase His glory through them. God takes much pleasure when we do what we were created to do. In whatever path God has us on. So what road is God leading you down? How can you give Him pleasure as you serve Him through your battles?

I’m excited to see what the next 100 days bring. My prayer is that my heart will calm down, that the meds I’m on will work to alleviate the extra beats, that God would prevent any cancer cell from growing in my body again, and that He would reveal to me how He’s going to use this for His glory. We march forward knowing He’s got it all in His hands!

Here’s a few pictures…

I didn’t get a chance to make it Mazy’s Spring Program this week, due to all of the people, but it was fun to help her get ready and cheer her on!

Sweet Mazy Grace made me a countdown chain with this sign, as we looked forward to my 100th day!

We decided to make early reservations at a restaurant to celebrate! We believe this might’ve been the first time we went out to eat since this fall! I started chemo in October, and so to sit down at a restaurant felt odd and yet so rewarding. I can tell my system is not used to restaurant food, still paying for that! I know chemo and all the meds completely destroy the gut, and ya know, it was completely worth it! Then we drove around Holland to look at all of the tulips. A perfect way to celebrate!

I will keep you posted as we get test results back and thank you for walking with us on this journey! We are so grateful for the support God has tangibly shown us through His people! We truly could not do this without you!