🌀Mood: disoriented, self-advocating, realigning, hopeful
I was still sitting in the infusion chair.
Still trying to absorb what my oncologist had just told me — that I hadn’t actually graduated, that I was only halfway to zero, that everything I thought was happening next was now on pause.
And then the phone rang.
It was the transplant scheduling department at Fred Hutch.
They were calling to get me on the calendar.
I Couldn’t Answer
Phones aren’t allowed in the infusion room — out of respect for other patients. Everyone’s there managing something hard, and peace is part of the process. So I let it go to voicemail and told myself I’d deal with it later.
But honestly, I needed the space anyway. I was still trying to wrap my head around what I’d just learned — and now this call raised a whole new question:
Do they know I’m not at zero?
The Monday Call
I called back the following Monday after I’d had time to think through how to explain everything clearly.
I told the scheduler that I’d been seeing a covering oncologist who told me I was at 0.08 — and based on that, I was told I had “graduated.” That’s what I had shared with the transplant team.
But when my regular oncologist returned, I learned something new:
There are two numbers they look at when it comes to M protein.
Yes, one was 0.08 — but the other was 0.68.
And that meant I wasn’t at zero after all.
The scheduler listened, thanked me, and said he’d follow up directly with my oncologist before making any transplant plans.
The Follow-Up
A few days later, he called me back with a clear plan:
🔹 I’ll stay on my current treatment — chemo twice a week — through the end of January.
🔹 That will complete six months of therapy, and give me the best shot at heading into transplant with the deepest response possible.
The official start date of my stem cell transplant journey is:
February 5, 2026.
It’s Official
It’s not the news I thought I’d be getting when I answered that call — or even when I left that infusion chair. But now, finally, there’s a date.
It’s a line on the calendar.
It’s something to prepare for.
And even if everything else is still uncertain… this part is real.
My Anchor Holds 