Day Negative 7

Well, we are here in Baltimore and it is T minus 7 days until Andrew's transplant.  It was a long and sometimes frustrating day.  When you arrive, you get a schedule, which listed various appointments from 11 to 2, and yet no one seems concerned to follow the schedule.  We would've been fine with this, except that the US Open finals were on at 4pm and we didn't leave the hospital until well after 6!

AJ's "simulation" bed

Today was all about final paperwork and preparations.  We first went to visit the team responsible for Andrew's "Total Body Irradiation."  (In addition to 5 days of chemo, AJ has to have one "zap" of radiation next Monday to pave the way for his brother's bone marrow.)  I'm not sure what we were expecting, but thankfully, there was no radiation involved.   The attending white-haired physicist (who looked like someone who could've worked on the A-bomb) did some measurements while AJ lay very still to calculate the exact intensity of the radiation needed to suppress his immune system. The bed was narrow and short, prompting Andrew to say, "I haven't seen a bed this short since I was a high school exchange student in Panama."
With long delays at every turn, we were exceedingly late for our afternoon meeting with one of the doctors where we signed our consent forms for all of these complicated procedures.  Then it was on to teaching me (CJ) how to care for Andrew's new catheter, which will be inserted tomorrow morning. Needless to say, we did not have a lot of bandwidth to absorb everything at this point!
We're still struggling to come to grips with the fact that we're here for a bone marrow transplant and the reality of what's to come in the days ahead.  Not easy...Thanks to everyone for the great emails, texts, voicemails and gifts.  Our departure this morning wasn't as smooth as we would've liked, but we got here.  We're way behind on acknowledging it all, but please know - thank you, thank you!!