Bone Marrow Transplant

For many of you, this may come as a surprise and for others this is old news, but my bone marrow transplant took place on December 23. My little brother flew home from his mission to be my donor. Isn't that just so nice of him. Due to the fact that I got new bone marrow I also received a new birthday. I'm so excited about this! My husband and I now have two reasons to celebrate my birth. My original birthday on Feb 24 and now my bone marrow birthday Dec 23.


The transplant itself is just a simple blood transfusion.
Hanging on the IV pole is the bag of donated bone marrow from Andrew. Andrew checked into the hospital at 6 am. He was taken into surgery around 7 am and was in my room by around eleven. Poor kid, he was and still is pretty sore. They laid him on a table (after putting him under) and drilled a hole through each of his hip bones in order to extract the marrow. The Nurse practitioner told me that he had extremely hard bones, but that his bone marrow looked amazing. I feel that it's the missionary factor that made the marrow so amazing.

Luckily for me, Andrew and I are the same blood type. This allowed me to be alert and coherent during the transfusion.

The Child life crew, the bone marrow doctors and any staff available participated in my celebration. they came into the room bearing gifts and the greatest version of happy birthday that one would ever hear. It was so loud and off key everyone could not help but smile and laugh. The bone marrow staff is amazing and I am ever so grateful.



























Besides the hospital staff, Kade's and my, families were there to help bring in the big moment. I am so grateful for all the support that was given. Here are some photos of them


It took roughly four hours for the transfusion to be complete. They say it usually takes about 2 hours, but like I said before Andrew's bone marrow was amazing. I'm still feeling well and we are on day 4. The doctor's say that that is a good sign.

I am in the hospital until graft vs. host appears. This usually appears after the stage of in-graftment (meaning the new cells have migrated into my bone marrow spaces). Since it was a sibling donor, this should occur between 17-21 days. We have a nice little envelope full of money attached to a calendar (each person that wanted to make a guess as to when in-graftment will take place, put money in the envelope and then put their name on the calendar) I get to keep all the money and they get the "glory" of picking the magic day.

Well, I think I have informed everyone on this matter well enough. My next post will be about Christmas.

Transplant here we come!

Well wed Dec 16 is the official check in date to start radiation in preparation to starting the bone marrow transplant. I have three days, of two sessions, of full body radiation. I also have three days of chemo (lucky for me these are my last days of chemo!)

Andrew is home and I think he is completely weirded out by being home. He walks around with this funny expression on his face- like the cat who ate the cannery. It's so cute. I'm ever so grateful that he did not have any parasites or infections that needed to be taken care of.

Well, Kade and I have celebrated Christmas with both sets of family now due to the fact that we are unaware of how with it I will be after the transplant. The transplant is still set for the 23 of December. I was told that on that day there will be a large party to celebrate my "new birthday"

Cancer Life

Well,

I am finally out of the hospital. I think I was in for about 20 days straight and I was ready to go when they released me on Sunday. I have to be back at the hospital on Friday Dec 6 for more tests before the bone marrow transplant and then for a meeting with the radiologist. I'm nervous for the meeting and excited so I can get all my questions answered. Andrew flies into SLC on Dec 7! That's a week from today! Our whole family is way excited for that and what an amazing experience it will be to have him home with us for Christmas. The transplant will take place on Dec 23. That's also the same day that they will harvest Andrew's bone marrow. The Bone marrow team talks as if this day will be like Christmas for us. It will be a big party with both sets of family and they give gifts and sing happy birthday ( not sure why, but that's what they said). I check back into the hosptial however on Dec 15 to start the radiation and the final chemo therapy treatments. It's a little weird to think that this day is almost upon us. I'm excited to be getting better and for my hair to finally start growing back. You can only stand to be bald for so long. haha

Well that's all I know as of right now. I'll keep you posted as more information is given to me. Thanks for all your love and support

Kade's Birthday

Kade turned 24 this year. :) I was really looking forward to spending his birthday with him. I was actually still in the hospital for his birthday. Lucky for me, he wasn't feeling the best so instead of me going to him, he came to me to open his birthday gift. Kade's an easy person to shop for if you think like a cop. I bought him a thigh holster for his gun. He had been telling me he wanted one for a long time. It's a good thing i listen and get mad at him when he talks about buying things before his birthday and Christmas. Boys! They just get what they need or want and forget that others like to shop for them. HAHA

Kade even brought up a cake for us. It's so cute. It looks like a dog. It was two cupcakes with yummy frosting. He's so sweet to think about bringing his own cake to help us celebrate.

Playing in the leaves

Karen, Mazee, and I had a great time playing in the leaves. Mazee was having fun throwing them in the air and running through Karen's neat piles. It's so fun to watch Mazee grow up. :)

Up date on the Transplant

Well, we got word that my transplant will probably take place on Decemeber 23. What a new experience to spend Christmas in the hospital. Andrew will probably fly to SLC on December 5-7. We need him at the hospital for testing on the 7th if all works out according to plan. It will be nice to see him and to catch up on what's been going on with his mission. I am so grateful that he is coming up so that I can live. What a nice little brother I have.

Well, when we know more we will keep you posted.

Zermont Hotel

Grandma and Grandpa Gunnell (Kade's grandparents) took us to dinner at the Zermont hotel. They are so sweet to us. They wanted to help us celebrate out sixth month anniversary. They even put us up in the hotel for two nights. We had so much fun walking around Midway. They were having a scarecrow show. So we walked around that and enjoyed viewing what people had made. Kade also showed me the crater and we wished that we could have gone swimming in it. too bad I have a central line.

Kade and I are so grateful for the wonderful people in our lives that give us support. It made our week to be able to spend time together alone and to just do nothing. I was feeling great while we were in midway, but I ended up needing two bags of blood when we got home. I was a little winded from all our walking. ;)

We are getting more and more excited for the Andrew to come home. It will be great to see him when he comes to save my life. I am more excited that Andrew and Kade will get to meet for more than two hours. (For those of you who don't know, Kade and Andrew met briefly before Andrew left to Costa Rica... yes, I know, I broke mission rules!)

I go back to Primary Children's hospital on October 22 for my next round of chemo. I should be there about five days unless I have some major complication. I hope that I don't so that I can spend more time at home before the transplant. Well that about sums up whats been happening with the Martinez family!

Fall

Kade understands that I get a little cooped up in the house when my counts are not high enough for me to be in public. So one afternoon when he had gotten off work we went for a drive up the hobble creek canyon. The leaves had just started to change! It was so beautiful. We took the opportunity to have a photo op. I just loved it. I like to go out and look at all the leaves changing. Fall is a great season!

Bone Marrow Donor

Hi all,

So here is the latest of what's been going on in the cancer world. I just spend five days at primary childrens hospital for my latest round of chemo. I am home now and don't have to return until October 22. I am way excited about that.

During my stay at the hospital my mom Bari, my mother- in-law Karen, Kade and I met with the bone marrow team. PEOPLE WE HAVE FOUND A MATCH! My brother Andrew is the one. The problem, he's living in Costa Rica serving a mission for the LDS church.

We are working with the church to get him flown up here for the procedure and then to let him finish his mission. We are unsure when the bone marrow transplant will take place, but it could be as early as November or as late as December (we think.)

The meeting was left me feeling optimistic and I feel really good about the decision to proceed with the bone marrow. I'm a little worried about the radiation, but that comes from being a dental hygiene major and seeing all those horrible pictures during my first year. -See I was paying attention in school. It's worth all the money :)-

Well, that's all that's going on right now. I feel good and am enjoying my time at home. I don't have as much energy as I normally do, but that can be expected. Kade takes me for walks and makes sure that I get out of the house enough. I just love him.

Mazee'!s Birthday

Since we went to Idaho we missed Mazee's birthday, So here are the pictures we got to show that she really liked our gift! Mazee loves finding Nemo so we bought her that DVD and a few other things. :) She is such a cute girl.

Rigby Homecoming!

Mitchell and His homecoming date! Aren't they cute
Grandpa and Dad.
Kendle made a cute t-shirt for Abbi to wear to support Uncle Mitchell.
Our Rigby Trojans!
Kendle and Kade
In this picture we have Kade, Grama, Abbi and Arica. Abbi was so excited to watch Mitchell play baseball. We couldn't get her to switch sports

Kade and I drove home to Idaho to spend some quality time with my family and to also see Mitchell play foot ball. Here are a few pictures of our trip.

Hair Falling Out!

Well, I am officially almost completely bald now! Kade and I decided that I was shedding too much and that it was time to take drastic measures! Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy of Kade cutting my hair all off!

Cancer!

Most of you by now know that Brette's cancer has returned.
She was re-diagnosed on August 21 at Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City Utah. She is doing really well and almost done with her first month of chemo.
As of right now chemo is every Thursday and her Mother-in-law drives her to her appointments. Since I'm on home health I'm not allowed to drive. :) Funny, i didn't know that last time. Kade is working full time and spends the evenings with me at home when I'm at home. If I'm in the hospital Kade spends the weekends with me and his family and my family come down for visits.

We are currently searching for a bone marrow donor. Results have come in and Mitchell is not a match, Kendle is out of the running and we are having issues getting Costa Rica to know how to test Andrew. As for everything else, it seems to be running smoothly.

Kade and I moved in with Mark and Karen (Kade's parents) to help us save money and to have someone around in case I got really sick. They have been a wonderful blessing and I'm grateful for them. It's amazing the relationship you can gain by spending all day with someone.

I know that my mom is heart broken that she can't be down here all the time helping me out. It's sad really, but you just have to make due with what we can do.

Honey Moon!

Kade talking to Jake on our Honeymoon! I think we had almost everyone in the family call us on our vacation. :) gotta Love family
Kade eating the best chocolate cake I've ever had!
I like this picture!
I love this picture!
We ate at the best pizza restaurant in down town Disney
Kade and I riding the wildest roller coaster in the West! We had a great time in Disney Land! What a magical place to be.

Kade and I at the Airport! Kade took me to Disney Land for our honeymoon. I hadn't been there since I was like 11. I had so much fun. Kade and his family are disney aholics. It was good to see him in his happy place and to see him act like a kid!

Marriage

Kade and I were married on April 24, 2009 in the Rexburg Idaho Temple. We had a lovely honeymoon in Disney Land! Kade's favorite place on earth.