July 22, 2012
Day -1 (1 day until the transplant)

Manue had a full nights sleep... almost 11 hours.
She woke up bright and early with a smile and a laugh.
It is good to see because typically another side of Manue is present - not her normal, happy self.

Her appetite has increased a bit over the last few days.  She was able to drink 200 ml of milk, eat a bit of cheese, and a couple bites of egg whites - it doesn't seem like much but considering all the drugs put into her system, this is good.

Last night I had a bit of a nightmare situation.  
We need to make sure that Manue has a bath each day.
Ever since the last cycle of chemotherapy, she has it in her head that the water is hot regardless of the temperature.
Normally Jessica is here to help but last night I was solo.

I tried to coax her into the bath. 
Didn't work.
Set the timer to 2 minutes and said that once the bell dinged, she would go into the bath.
Didn't work.

Finally, I had to take her and forcibily put her into the bath.
Good god!
Her legs were kicking - lashing around as if I were putting her in boiling water.
Tears.
Screams.
I surprised that the nurses didn't come into the room to make sure I wasn't hurting her.

Needless to say, the bath was quick.

We'll see how tonight goes.

Tomorrow is the big day.
A fresh start on a new beginning.
At around 2 o'clock tomorrow, she will receive the cord blood transplant.
The cord blood will be allowed to enter her vein over a two hour period.
After that, we wait.  We pray.  We hope that the transplant will work as intended and get rid of this cancer once and for all.