It’s My Stemmie Birthday!!

At approximately 3:15 pm CST, October 1, 2019, in Monterrey Mexico, with the help of an incredible group of Doctors (hero’s), Nurses (angel’s) and unbelievable support system (warriors) from around the world, I am happy to announce that Kim welcomed into her body approximately 3,000,000 baby stem cells that have no memory of the MS disease. “HAPPY DANCE!” This is a huge milestone and we are still floating on the outpouring of love and support that helped us through the toughest period of this fight against MS. We can confirm the promise that in fact “Weeping may last through the night, but JOY comes with the morning” Psalms 30:5b. We have so much to be thankful for.

So what happens now? Chemo is doing it’s thing by completing the destruction of her immune system, so that these baby stems can reboot a brand new immune system. Kim will go into isolation as her body goes into neutropenia. Her immune system will be at zero soon therefore it won’t attack the new cells coming back in. It is a dangerous few days were any small infection or germ or bug can be fatal. We will wear masks and gloves and not go in public unless it’s an emergency. Food prep is strict. They have a team that will come sanitize our apartment twice a day. They are serious about the process and in the event of a suspected problem, critical care is in place to quickly avoid major complications! They will test her blood daily in the apartment and when her counts reach a safe level she will be out of the danger zone, sometime within the next 6-10 days. She will have one dose of Retuximab infusion with one last IV and then will be cleared to go home. We fully expect to be on our flight Oct 12.  She will continue on a special diet and on a compromised immune system protocol, similar to most chemo patient recoveries. She will see a hematologist regularly over the next 6-8 months. Her full recovery period is expected to be 12 – 18 months that will look like a rollercoaster with many peaks and valleys. Basically what this all means is, no news from us in the next 6-10 days is great news. If anything changes, we will let you know.

We cannot say it enough how grateful we are for each and every one of you and your unbelievable support throughout this entire process. What a difference you have made in our lives! We ask that you continue to pray as Kim moves through the recovery period and we long for the day when we can see each one of you face to face and hug your necks!

All our love, Mike & Kim

p.s. I am truly digging her new look….Beautiful!