Metamorphosing Butterfly: Fully Loaded Marty and The Recovering Bear

I have failed as a blogger this week.

I blame this-

I got some unexpected news this past week regarding my room and it's future tenant. You see, I thought that I had all of next week to pack, organize, and de-clutter. I had a very detailed plan as to how I would manage my transition. Well, that plan went down the gutter when I found out on Tuesday that I had to be out of my room by Thursday night. Story of my life. BUT....I handled it like a champ and managed to survive without threatening anybody's life or taking my own. However, before getting into more details and showing you all just how successful my packing and organizing was, I think P. deserves a little recognition.

As you all know (if you don't, see previous post), P. was a bone marrow match for a patient with leukemia and went through an uncomfortable and painful process to donate his stem cells. Well, Wednesday was the big donation day. And let me tell you, P. rocked it! Before the actual procedure that would isolate his stem cells, the nurses took some blood to measure the stem cell count in his blood. P.'s count was over twice the amount of a typical donor. This meant that instead of the typical 8-12 hours, the procedure would take 4-6 hours. But this also meant that P.'s body was working extremely hard and he was in much more pain than a typical donor. Poor guy.

The nurses had me wait outside the "procedure" room while they hooked P. up to this machine-

After roughly 45 minutes, I was allowed in. This is what I saw-

The machine was pumping blood out of his right arm, filtering it to remove the stem cells (which were deposited into a sterile bag that would immediately be sent to the leukemia patient), and pumping the blood back into his body through his left arm. In total, the machine processed 17 liters of blood. This means that all the blood in P.'s body got filtered over 3 times!

But having clean blood has it's sacrifices. During the whole procedure, which took roughly 5 hours, P. couldn't move. At all. And this resulted in quite a few entertaining stories. Especially when P. decided he really needed to use the bathroom about 30 minutes into the procedure...maybe one day I'll share the stories. However, that day is not today.

In the picture above, the bag on the right contains the stem cells. The nurse kept exclaiming how P.'s stem cells are the most beautiful stem cells she has ever seen. Not surprised, I beamed with pride thinking "Well, he's got the most beautiful heart I've ever known, so of course he'd have the most beautiful stem cells." Yes. Stem cells. Weird. I know.

Even though the procedure was extremely uncomfortable, P. was able to keep his sense of humor (see above picture). At least for the first 30 minutes until the bathroom emergency hit and it was all about distraction. I don't know how the guy did it, but he did. He held it in until the very end. Note to self- on future roadtrips, we are not stopping for bathroom breaks.

As for my favorite part of the procedure...

Free girl scout cookies.

Since the procedure, P.'s been recovering and getting better every day. He's now having a few knee problems, which may or may not be a result of the shots he was getting to stimulate stem cell production. We're waiting to speak to his doctor to find out, but please continue to keep him in your thoughts.

Now back to the other huge event of my week- packing, organizing, and tossing. Since P.'s procedure took place Wednesday night- Thursday morning, I only had Tuesday evening and Thursday afternoon to go though my belongings, figure out what I would need to live out of my car for a year or so, pack up my car, and get rid of the rest.

*Quick side note- my car's name is Martin, Marty for short.

And I did it! Here is a little tour of Marty:

Trunk

My trunk is home to: my yoga mat, some outdoor chairs, a blowup mattress, my hiking pack with tent, mosquito net, and sleeping bag, some pots and pans, and a few car essentials.