Day +90

🌀Mood: Thankful, Encouraged, Waiting

Today marks Day +90 after my autologous stem cell transplant.

Ninety days.

When I was admitted for transplant, Day +90 felt impossibly far away. At the time, I wasn’t thinking about milestones. I was thinking about getting through the next day, the next blood draw, the next medication, the next wave of nausea and fatigue.

But somehow, one day at a time, we got here.

Today feels less like a finish line and more like a moment to pause and look back at how far God has carried me.

The last four months have stretched me in ways I never expected. There have been days filled with fear, uncertainty, isolation, exhaustion, and waiting. So much waiting.

Waiting for blood counts.
Waiting for strength to return.
Waiting for appointments.
Waiting for scans.
Waiting for test results.

And even today, I am still waiting.

Many of the important tests that will help tell the next chapter of my story have been completed, and now we wait for the results. While those results matter, I realized something today:

Day 90 is worth celebrating regardless.

It is a milestone that once felt very far away.

Today I am grateful for every prayer that has been prayed, every message that has been sent, every appointment that someone sat beside me through, and every person who helped carry me when I didn’t have the strength to carry myself.

I am especially grateful for my husband and my cousin, who have walked every step of this journey with me.

And today, some of the restrictions that have been part of my life for months begin to ease.

That means tonight I can enjoy something that probably sounds ordinary to most people: a medium-rare steak and a glass of wine.

I haven’t had a steak in four months.

Funny how cancer and transplant have a way of teaching you to celebrate things you once took for granted.

The steak isn’t really the point.

The point is that little pieces of normal life are beginning to return.

There is still recovery ahead.

There are still precautions to take.

There are still results to receive.

But today, I am choosing gratitude.

Ninety days ago, my medical team gave me back my stem cells and asked them to do what they were created to do.

By God’s grace, they did.

And today, on Day +90, my heart is full.

Not because the journey is over.

But because I am here.

And that is worth celebrating.