I arrived at the Bass Center outpatient clinic this morning for the first set of my “work up” tests to be Sam’s stem cell donor. Claudia, our favorite badging in service provider said first thing, “did Sam already come in? Did I miss him?”  
I got to share with her my news that I get to be Sam’s donor so will have a bunch of appointments myself. 
I got my own bracelet, confirmed my name & date of birth, and then waited in the lobby as we always do. A phlebotomist called my name and walked with me to get my blood drawn.  She was very skilled: no pain and very efficient. I think there were 10 vials but it didn’t seem like that at all.
I have very small veins so I am always wary of blood draws: I’ve had too many people miss! 😣 
i got my own golden ticket — their signal that I can move on to the next step (Sam gets these every visit) and then met up with Sam’s transplant nurse practitioner, Lauren (turns out there are 2 Laurens (stoooppp making it possessive!!!!  There are TWO of them so it is PLURAL — ridiculous auto check! )  who are teamed with our transplant doctor — so they refer to them as “The Laurens.”
She walked me to my other 2 appointments as both were on the adult side and Stanford hospitals are labyrinthian: apheresis to check my veins and x-ray to check my chest/abdomen.
I found out once again that I have tiny veins. This is not news but it does complicate the apheresis process: they need (ideally) 2 or more good veins in each arm as my blood will go out one arm, into a machine, the stem cells will be removed, and the remaining blood will go back into my other arm.
There is another option where they put a catheter with 2 lumens, one for outgoing blood and one for incoming, into my neck. This involves a small surgical procedure so is less ideal.
Nurse Y came over to check my veins: she is known to be a goddess of finding veins and making this process work and she said she thinks she can do it. She even talked to Lauren about her schedule and our schedule so she could try to be in the clinic when I am there!  Wow. Kindness follows us once again.  #FULeukemia 
I then got chest x-ray filled out about 70 questions asking all kinds of medical history to make sure I won’t give any infection or other medical issue to Sam.  Now off to meet with Dr. Klein, Sam’s transplant doctor, to sign all the consents. It’s a 90 minute meeting so you can tell there will be a lot of information.
Zack has a holiday today and is hanging out with his oldest cousin Andrew for a few hours ❤️❤️❤️❤️
#FULeukemia
#TeamSam