I could not be more thrilled. I have made a date with Monique! To meet her! And her absolutely beautful and charming daughter who is the same age as Ari. When I first got on touch with Monique, I felt so badly like I wanted to give her something or do something nice for her. All my ideas she shot down and she finally said, "Save your money and come visit". So I am. We have a date for early August to go the pier in Santa Monica and play. I am so glad she's agreed. Monique in Santa Monica! Very fitting in my opinion.
We are all flying in. I don't want to overwhelm her but there are a few people that want to meet her. She is very loved. I'm thrilled that Kaethe will be flying in with her daughter. Kaethe helped me so much along the way. She set up the doner circle at Gift of Life that has raised a bunch of money allowing genetic testing for 721 donor samples which found 11 matches for people in need and thus resulted so far in a successful transplant for someone else. She has also done tons of outreach and gotten many people on the bone marrow regisitry since I was diagnosed. She is also my oldest friend. She became my best friend in sixth grade. That was 39 years ago. What you wouldn't believe is that she looks the same. I'm not kidding. I'm looking forward to seeing her on the ferris wheel...
I'm making a set of hair bows for Monique's daughter. She likes pink. Everything I make I feel like it's not pretty enough! I'm psyching myself out. I'm so grateful, so enamoured, so smitten, I'm like frozen. They're just hair bows! You can't get too precious about hair bows. I don't have girls, but given the amount of times I notice lost hair bows in the street, I realize, they are just something that pass through your life! Not something to get too attached to. I've often thought that hair bows could be a good business because people certainly don't buy them just once and they look super cute. Plus, they ain't cheap! The really nice ones can go for a high price! So, that said, this date we have planned is a great thing in terms of my hair bow deadline. Now I have one! These are going to be cute. Pink butterflies. Pink feathers. Pink sequins.
Last week I had another round of Azacytadine, and the requesit pre-medication blood test. It is always so nerve-wracking. If I feel the least bit tired or have a sore in my mouth, I think, "Oh no, this is it. On please, let me stay healthy just until I meet Monique. I just want to thank her in person. I just want her to meet my husband and my boys so that she could really know us and know that she saved all our lives". My goal, ever since that beautiful bag of stem-cells came to me on September 21, 2012, was to get well and to meet my donor and thank her. I don't want anything to mess that up. I am incredibly relieved every month when they tell me how "brilliant" my bloodwork looks. But this month, wow, I am one month closer to meeting Monique.
