Special hatch n restricted diet? lots of big hugs in order, me thinks, from Scoop(scruffy liitle dog n me), n lots of folk, thinking of n wishing you love n all the very best

Lets hope it is soon all over and that you are on that road to recovery.
Have a good birthday and then insist on celebrating properly when you get home

Sounds scary eh!
The hatch (there is one for items coming in [clean] and one for items going out [dirty]) is so people don't have to come in the room unneceserily(sp).

And the restricted diet is things like - no salad, no fruit that can't be peeled, no unpasturised food/drinks or anything made from unpasturised things, nothing from a deli, nothing like pate, no nuts/dried fruit, no raw/undercooked eggs, no soft cheeses, nothing from a takeaway, and believe it or not....no bottled water, as it contains a lot of bacteria!

Have been reading through these posts and I have to tell you how much I admire your courage and determination. I hope you're bearing up okay. Sending love to you. x

Thinking of you Hev, hope everything goes well for you and Shelley x

Have just come across this thread Hevvur, because I rarely stray from the top half of the forum page!

I just wanted to add my best wishes for a trouble free and successful transplant. You have the right spirit for getting through this!

Sending you all my love and healing You are very brave and have a wonderful sister too

Thanks for the lovely messages everyone.

I went for my 'final' check-up yesterday, and signed all the consent forms for the transplant.

I will be admitted at 2pm on Wednesday 19th January.
I will have a week of chemo (called FMC) - one of the drugs is an immunosuppressant(sp), to kill off my immune system.

Then Isochick will go in on 25th January to have her Stem Cells harvested.
I will get them either the same day, or the next morning as they are better 'fresh' and not frozen and defrosted!

Then I will have at least another 3 weeks in hospital (in isolation - allowed visitors, but they have to wash hands & wear an apron to come in my room).
My discharge will depend on how quickly I start to recover, and how quickly my body 'takes' to Shelleys stem cells and starts to grow a new immune system!

Luckily I can have my mobile and laptop, so I won't be cut off from the world!
Can still come on here, and have downloaded Skype so I can chat to Isochick during the week (hospital is too far to visit during the week when they have work).

good luck with everything, I hope its not too boring in hospital. Wishing for a speedy recovery for you xx

Good luck I hope your soon well x