Admitted Tomorrow

Well, Ryan will be admitted tomorrow morning, Tues.,Jan. 13th. His pneumonia is gone so the next phase can begin. Today we met with the oncologist the nutritionist and the pharmacist. We spent a good deal of time with the oncologist going over last-minute details. We learned that tomorrow is called '-7 Day' leading up to day '0' which is transplant day. His chemo regimen is called BEAM, with each letter standing for a particular chemo drug.
Here's the schedule:

Tue. -7 Day: BCNU
Wed. -6 Day: VP-16 & Ara-C
Thur. -5 Day: VP-16 & Ara-C
Fri. -4 Day: VP-16 & Ara-C
Sat. -3 Day: VP-16 & Ara-C
Sun. -2 Day: Melphalan
Mon. -1 Day: Rest
Tue. 0 Day: Progenitor Cell Infusion

The first day, -7 Day, is supposed to be the worst, as this chemo drug is nasty! The '0 Day' they consider his 'New Birthday' as he will, cell wise, be re-born. They suggest it be celebrated for the rest of his life. One thing they mentioned today is that all his cell 'memory' will be wiped clean. His body will have forgotten all his childhood innoculations. So, a year from now, he will need to be vaccinated with everything all over again like measles and chicken-pox.
We are calm going into all of this and feel at peace knowing he is in the hands of the Lord. We marvel at the small miracles we have seen along the way like his pneumonia being completely gone today and how many bone-marrow stem-cells they were able to collect in one day. They told us today how very, very rare that was to get so many when it should have taken 3-4 days. There have been many, many more and we contribute it to the many prayers that are being offered in his behalf and we thank you all for it.