Day 30, Wednesday, February 27th, 2013

Wednesday was a day of wandering tourism, as we squired Father about the town (within walking distance, of course). We saw the bottom of the Space Needle; technically, we saw the entire thing, but what I mean is we stood inside the base of the Needle as mother exchanged a souvenir T-shirt that had turned out to be a little small. We wandered over to Pike Place Market and ate lunch. It was originally intended to be brunch, but you know how these things go: meandering is inefficient. I had the greatest steak frites of my life (Which you may inquire about directly, if you wish. I don't know who the visionary was who decided that cheese, butter, and herbs should be mixed together in a little dish that accompanies a pan-seared steak, for the purposes of spreading it on that pan-seared steak, but I do know that this person was French, and probably died when every artery in their body shut down simultaneously from clogging and joy.). We toured Pike Place, which, on a Wednesday, takes substantially less time than it does on a Saturday. I gave a dollar to a young busker by the name of Carly Calbero (carlycalbero.com), who had an amazing voice. Dad gave a dollar to another pair that played the clarinet and accordion together, and they were great, but I can't remember the name they used. Subway, something-something (if you say Eat Fresh, I will not be nice to you anymore).

Since wandering through Pike was much quicker than anticipated, we found ourselves with extra time, which we used as follows:

- We found the Gum Wall. There is an alleyway just off of the market where people have, for years, been sticking their used gum. It smelled like Hubba Bubba and syphilis, made me slightly nauseous, and I never want to see it again. Once was enough, thank you kindly.

- We bought umbrellas. To the uninitiated, this would sound like it is a thing that we should have had with us, what with this being Seattle, a stereotypically rainy place. Here's the thing: while it rains here almost daily (for about nine months, I'm told summers are amazing, which means that children conceived at the end of summer will be born into summer, and will have a few vitamin-D filled months of lies before the skies cloud up), it actually doesn't rain very much or for very long. It is usually not worth your time to carry an umbrella; rather, it is preferable to wear a garment that has an attached hood.

- We went to the Seattle Art Museum again, since it is rather close to the market, and also because one or both of my parental units needed to make use of the facilities, and they expressed a preference for clean facilities, which, honestly, the public bathrooms in Pike Place Market really aren't. In point of fact, the public washrooms make me glad that I stand when I micturate. Micturate means urinate, which means pee, tinkle, leak, and/or wizz.

It was just up the escalator to the second floor of the SAM that I received a phone call from Kerry, letting me know the results of the Doctor Scrum. The fix is in: I am getting the tandem transplants! That is, the myoablative autogeneous transplant (my stem cells), followed by the mixed chimerism allogeneic transplant (the 'mini'; donor stem cells). There is more news:

- A second 9/10 HLA match has been found! This is good, in that it gives options.

- My parents and my sister, who are haploid (half) matches, are also being considered for the donor transplant. A related half-match can sometimes be better that an unrelated imperfect match, in terms of reduced GVHD.

- I have my data review conference tomorrow at 4:15pm, and will finally be getting the actual plan for the first transplant. The plan for the second transplant will be decided while I am getting the first one.

- I get my Hickman line installed on Friday morning. This is a semi-permanent port for the purposes of apheresis, administering medications, and drawing blood, meaning, of course, that I will have one bigger scar, instead of heroin track marks from all of the needles that I would otherwise be getting.

- My stem cells should be getting collected on Monday.

This is all going to happen very fast, now that a decision has actually been made, and I am quite happy about this (though not as happy as I would have been if I were only getting the mini, and had been allowed to go home for a few weeks, obviously). But honestly, it's the waiting that's the hardest part. Isn't there a song about that?*

Filled with news, we happily looked at art for a while, went to Target for various sundry items, and then put crab in us. Afterwards, we walked home in the rain.

*Yes, yes there is, and it's by Tom Petty.

Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.