Good news: My brother made it through the first round of chemo and his blood work looked good enough that they sped up the timeline for getting him to stem cell transplant.
Yesterday was what was supposed to be the first day of The Harvest (that is what they call it for real). They planned to do as many days as they needed to in order to get 25 million stem cells, enough to freeze for multiple additional transplant rounds that they're hoping he will never need; harvesting sucks and they want to get enough cells the first round that the patient never has to go through it again. Typically it takes a few days to get the 25M, but with Lukas they got 31 million on the first try, the greatest harvest any of them had ever seen. So he's done and home and waiting for recovery, the next round and then transplant as soon as possible.
Not only was he brimming with stem cells, but both the doctor and the NP, in separate conversations, enthused over the "awesome" color of his cells. His husband said, "You guys need better hobbies."
So, he is bald and feeling like shit but ready for the next phase and his cells are officially awesome. Excelsior!