A Man with a Better Plan

Although some of my Great Friends live on the “no plan plan”, I’m more of a plan person myself. I like having a plan. Still, I don’t mind abandoning a plan for a Better Plan, sometimes.

A great technique is “backwards planning”: you start with the result on a certain date in the future and then plan backwards towards the present from there. So, that’s kind of what we did for my treatment.

I will have my allogeneic stem cell transplant on September 2. (Thank you, anonymous donor!) That means that I will enter the hospital on Monday 24 August, for total body irradiation and intensive chemotherapy (endoxan). Yes, we really want to go after the Bad Cancer Cells with everything we have!

That in turn means that I will have a plethora of tests and preparations on 19-21 August – six interventions in total, but I do get to go home in the evening and spend the weekend at home too.

And that leaves us with a bit of time until then! I still need to get Yet Another Blood Check next Tuesday, but it looks like we will have a bit of time for a Family Holiday after all. I just booked us into a hotel in Trier, Germany (close enough to get back home easily if necessary, just in case).

The original plan was to spend much more time, with our Friends in Umbria, but hey, sometimes you need to abandon a plan for a better plan!

And then there is the after-2-September period. I don’t think about it much. I hope to be back on my feet quickly. But if not, then not. I mostly hope to get back on my feet for good. So we can visit our friends in Umbria for long periods, and many years to come…

Our friends in Umbria