Home sweet home

Seattle was helpful. I really liked Dr. Burroughs. I liked her so much that I would have given her the link to my blog except I sort of trashed her in that last episode. She did a great job of talking about the program in Seattle and spent a lot of time reviewing the entire transplant process with me and discussing the various potential outcomes. A lot of that was hard information to hear. All the drugs, the side effects, the risks, the unknowns. This will be a long and extraordinarily difficult process for Samson.

We also compared Seattle with Portland, in terms of transplant process and outcome. While Seattle does more pediatric transplants, the difference in numbers from the Portland program is pretty small. Dr. Burroughs believes that Samson would undergo the same regimen in Seattle that he would in Portland, and she could not say that she believed he would have any better outcome under their care in Seattle. In fact, after we had spent several hours together and she knew more about Samson, me, and our family, I felt that she thought we would do best to stay home, although she seemed eager to treat Samson. I believe she would be a great resource or sounding board for Dr. Nemecek if she wanted a second opinion during the transplant process, and Dr. Burroughs assured me that is something they do regularly.

While I still have time to stew about this because we aren't starting until next week, I feel pretty much decided we should stay home, and that that will be best for Samson and for all of us. And yes, I felt light as a feather hopping in the car and driving to Seattle by myself -- no one to feed or change, no demands for another round of "I'm a Little Teapot," no reason not to pop in every Starbucks on I-5. But how amazing it felt to walk in my front door, with a house so full of people who love me!