Just another day in the life of my husband, my superhero.

As many of you know last November Bear did a stem cell donation.  Click here to read about the first process.

Bear received a call before he left for the Gulf of Mexico that the patient was now in need of his T-Cells.  Hurricane Isaac happened which delayed time and eventually after many rescheduling the day was upon us to head on up to Portland.

We checked in to The Inn at Northrup Station and I thought we had both sipped on some of Alice's happy juice and slipped down the rabbit hole.

Walking down the passage inebriated would not be wise

All I could think when I saw the 'headboard' was where are the handcuffs.

Living area with purple door that leads to another rabbit hole.

Portland is well known for their outstanding restaurants. We were in the Northwest Portland area and we decided to go to Serratto Restaurant and Bar. Once again Portland did not disappoint.

 

Their happy hour menu was wonderful and we agree with our friends, Dave and Lars, happy hour in Portland is incredible.  These pictures are the happy hour portions. 

Calamari Rings

Octopus Bean Salad. I dug in before I took a picture. Hence the bite out of the bread.

Fries, garlic mayo and ketchup.

Walnut salad

Pizza of the day

Creme Brulee

The Creme Brulee was on the house per our wonderful waitress Erin.  I had told her why we were in Portland and she was a little verklempt.

Serratto. Great place, great food and great atmosphere.

5:00am Came all too soon and we were off to the hospital to get Bear checked in. 

Bear all checked in and waiting.

 

 

 

I had to leave the room when they put the needles into Bear's arms. These are some big boys and I don't do well with the sight of needles.  

So calm and happy.

Once Karen, our wonderful nurse we had last time,  had Bear all situated we turned on the TV and I flicked through the channels to find something to occupy us all for the next four hours. The T-Cell collection was not as stressful as the Stem-Cell.  If you remember back then Bear had to take injections to increase his stem cell production which put pressure on his bones.  My husband is a trooper. Not one complaint. Now me... well as Karen said, "We'll make sure you have two nurses in the room."

Bear and our amazing nurse, Karen

If you look to the right of the picture and about the machine you will see a bag with red liquid in it.  Those are Bear's T-Cells.

All done.

Our thoughts, prayers, wishes, good juju and mojo go to the patient.  We hope she has a positive reaction to the T-Cells and that she gets stronger every day.

Thank you to Fari at Be The Match for keeping us straight on our paperwork and appointments and for always having a hug and a smile for us no matter how hectic your day was.

Karen, thank you for your kindness and your compassion.  You made this journey so much easier for us both to get through.

Bear, thank you for going along with me when I signed us both up on the registry and for not giving me the sideways look when you were called six months later.  You are selfless and I wish there were more people in the world like you. I love you much.

If you are thinking of signing up on the registry please take a moment and educate yourself on all that is involved.  We can all get caught up in the emotion and when our number is called we should be ready to say yes.

Now go. Sign up. Now.