Seattle, Here I Come!

I think, anyway. We have to call and give them our final decision after speaking to my insurance company, but my experience at Fred Hutchinson was exceptional.
It was a difficult trip in many ways because I was very emotional, but I feel much better now knowing where I will be, who will be watching over me, and what my protocol might be.
The trip out to Seattle, and the first several hours were difficult because I couldn't seem to relax or focus on the task at hand. I cried a couple times and felt pretty down overall. I think traveling all the way out there made the whole transplant experience more real, and the fact that it might be done 3,000 miles away terrified me. I didn't want to like it there (and neither did my mom, for the record! :)) I also kept thinking of how much fun we had last time we visited when we went with the entire family, only a week before I relapsed.
Just when we all needed a little pick-me-up, we met our angel in the form of a very entertaining and funny cab driver. He had us laughing for over an hour as he drove us around Seattle. He taught us how to pass long lines of traffic and cut in just at the right moment, did his very best to show us Bill Gates' house, took us on a driving tour of Microsoft, and told stories and made comments that brightened our day, and changed the feeling of the whole trip. I'm still smiling thinking of him. He'll never know what he did for us Sunday afternoon, but to each of us, it will remain the highlight of our mini-trip to Seattle.
Our hotel in Seattle, the Sorrento Hotel, was beautiful, the weather was amaaaaaazing (in the 70s, I believe...in JULY!!!), and each night we had a clear view of Mount Rainier. Don't worry though...I know that from October through May, Seattle is typically cloudy and rainy, but I love the rain, and I figure that way I won't need to bring my sound machine to help me sleep! :)
Monday we went to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, part of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. From the beginning, I was impressed. The view alone could have convinced me to go there!!! As you can see from the photo, it's gorgeous! It looks out over Lake Union which was full of boats and seaplanes. There were windows on one whole wall of the waiting room, and there was a woman diligently cleaning each chair. There was a partially enclosed glass section that separates any patient/caretaker who may be contagious from the rest of the patients. Everyone, and I mean everyone, was friendly! We met with Dr. Fred Appelbaum, the executive director, and he spent two hours talking with us. Here's a little about him if you'd like to read up: http://www.fhcrc.org/about/leadership/appelbaum.html He knew exactly who I was, gave me my medical history without much input from myself, and answered all our questions.
Here are a couple details I found interesting, not necessarily important, but interesting. Apparently less than one percent of AML (acute myelogenous leukemia) patients have my gene translocation (7;21). I knew it was rare, but less than one percent?!! I have always liked to separate myself from the crowd in some way. :) He also informed us that there is a 40 percent cure rate for all people (I believe specifically for AML patients) after relapse. The rest of the meeting, I thought about that number. I thought, "hmmm...40 percent....not too great, but it could certainly be worse...I will just assume I am one of the 40 percent". As soon as the meeting ended, I mentioned the number to Ronnie and my mom and dad. Ronnie made me feel much better by reminding me that the number includes all patients, from patients like myself who are young and have been sensitive (or responded well) to chemo and gone into remission quickly to those patients who are 75 and older with various co-morbitities (or risk factors, such as diabetes and heart disease).
One very important aspect of our conversation dealt with my protocol or how they will treat me. Seattle offers an experimental treatment involving iodine I 131 in lieu of total body irradiation, and the way I understand it is that they infuse me with this radioactive substance pre-transplant to help target cancer cells without harming normal cells. It carries much more radiation, but it is not full body radiation...for any questions regarding this, I recommend you contact Ronnie or my dad because as you can see, my knowledge is very limited regarding this right now. The word "experimental" scares me, but after speaking with Dr. Appelbaum, Ronnie and my dad, I feel more excited about it, and I felt convinced that in the end, I need to rely on the experts. I need to educate myself more, but based on our conversation Monday, I feel comfortable.
After speaking with Dr. Appelbaum, someone came in to speak with us about insurance and the financial aspect of getting my transplant done at "the Hutch". I liked him immediately because he reminded me of my cousin, Jeff. He was young and very laid-back, but knowledgeable about my situation. In between explaining the process to us, he talked about surfing, skydiving, and I loved how he kept saying "heavy" when talking about dealing with such a serious situation. He was extremely helpful, yet lighthearted which I think is pretty difficult to accomplish when dealing with someone in my situation. Jeff, we all thought of you, so we considered him another angel on our trip to Seattle...like you were helping to look out for us. :)
By the way, just a little side note: I'm listening to my new favorite song...I'm addicted! Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHnJGXwr-HU ("I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz). Rachel, thanks for coming over and watching "My Boys" AND for helping me download a bunch of songs...and thank you to Sean for the itunes card!!! Music is definitely one of my principle therapies, and I love adding new songs to make me dance/nourish my spirit/relax, etc. Anyway, as I was saying, the experience at the Hutch was great. We debriefed at lunch down by the lake, and we all felt the same, excited and encouraged by the meeting and tour of the facilities. I still feel an "anxious anticipation" (a very accurate description I discovered in the Hutch booklet about stem cell transplantation), but at the same time, I feel like I need to move forward and in a way I'm looking forward to starting the process because that means it will be over with sooner. I actually caught myself wondering a little bit the other day "why me?" which surprised me because I never really asked myself this question. The more I thought about it though, the more I realized I was asking not "why did you choose me to go through this, God?" but rather I felt curious as to what made this happen scientifically speaking, and also, what was the lesson I should be learning. I guess I will find that out as I keep plugging along.
My second chemo started yesterday, and I feel really good (knock on wood!). I'm doing it as an outpatient, which is nice because I go to my doctor's office in the AM and then I give it to myself again twelve hours later at home. It feels great not to be in the hospital. Plus my white count and neutrophils were amazingly high (for me!) today because of the steroids they give me for anti-nausea, so Aunt Bitsy and I spent the afternoon today at Tysons and running errands. I'm enjoying all the time I have to spend out with the general public!
Also, as you can see by the Jack photo shoot that I got to go hang out with Eric, Paulina, Jack and Mogo last night! Eric and Paulina, the burgers were delish and it was so nice to hang out with everyone. I just can't believe how big my little buddy Jack is! If I had known my white count was so high, I would have been cuddling him all night!!!!
OK, this is really long, so I'm going to sign off. I have chemo at 9 am, and it's 11:40 right now, despite what the blog says. I hope everyone is doing well...hope you haven't missed me too much these past days!! :)
Oh, and here are some photo descriptions. Again, I apologize for the aesthetics of the blog...it's driving me crazy, but I don't know how to fix it...all the pics are out of order, the text is not where it should be and I can't label photos directly underneath them. Ronnie might help me set up my own website, so whenever we get to that, I'll let you know!
OK, here's some photo info: 1)Aunt Bitsy (aka "baby hogger"! :) )and Jack; 2-6)my buddy Jack; 7)Jack cracks up at my mom; 8)Jack and Aunt Bitsy (see what I mean?!--baby hogger!!--and I mean that in a nice way :) ); 9)Paulina enjoying an omelette at IHOP this afternoon...she stopped by my doc's office and then ate with Aunt Bitz and I; 10)Paulina and Mogo; 11-13)Jack; 14-15)views from plane of Seattle area: 16)view from plane sitting at BWI; 17)fireplace at our hotel--it was very cozy!; 18)Salty's on Alki (thanks for the recommendation, Andrew!!)--it was a wonderful brunch...I'll entitle this one "Group Reflection Photo"...for when you don't feel like asking the waiter. :); 19)Mom and Dad at Salty's on Alki...look at that view!; 20)another view from Salty's; 21)our hotel; 22)Ronnie and I looking at view from the Hutch waiting room; 23)Mom and Dad in the British taxi our hotel had; 24)a beautiful flower (I have to give credit to Ronnie for the photo though--none of mine came out!!); 25)sign on fountain by hotel; 26)said fountain; 27-29)views from the Chandler's Crabhouse (near the Hutch--where we debriefed after the meeting); 30)the Hutch; 31)view from the waiting room; 32)view of Mount Rainier on the way to the airport; 33)enlarge this one to see the huge rock climbing wall at the flagship REI--a very cool place to visit if you visit Seattle; 34)toasting our good appointment; 35)talking to Katie after the appointment...wow, 35 photos!!! I'm getting out of control!! :)