T-Day (Wed Day Zero) Update 2

The transplant process was finished by about 5:00. All went well. It was really sort of a non-event! As I mentioned in the earlier post the transfusion consisted of infusing 2 bags of what appeared to be red blood cells over a 1.5 hour time period. A nurse was present during the entire time. It was my understanding that negative reactions to the transfusions are possible so they closely monitor patients. They were all quite pleased there were no problems. Jackie was one of two transplants completed today. Many days there are three or four. I've included a poor quality picture taken with my cell phone camera during the transplant. Jackie was barely awake. They had given her a big shot of IV Benadryl and she was asleep within minutes. The red bag you see hanging on the IV tree is one of the bags of stem cells the other was just a bag of IV liquids. She had two big IV fluids bags infused with the stem cells. This helps keep the kidneys flushed. She actually gained two pounds today in fluids due to the flushing process. They weigh you before starting and when finished to make certain you don't retain too much.

Jackie is feeling well this evening. She was sick this morning but things improved as the day went along. A few minutes ago she was watching TV and actually had a bit of dinner. As I write she is changing the pillow cases on the bed!!! And she's supposed to be sick!!! I'm complaining and she won't stop!!!

We received a call from the transplant nurse-coordinator. This is the lady that flew to the donor's site and collected the cells from the donor. She presented the Thank You letters written by Jackie and me. She told us this was the second time this person has donated stem cells. He had not heard anything from the people involved in the first donation, so he was a little surprised to get a Thank You letter from us. The nurse coordinator said the letters brought a tear to his eye, so we were glad we sent along out thanks to him.

We return to the hospital at 8:00 AM in the morning. We will be returning at least once per day even if there are no problems. This will happen everyday for 3-4 weeks. They will draw blood everyday with additional draws on Monday and Thursday for CSP blood levels. We will also meet with the nutritionist every day so they can review Jackie's food intake. We met with the nutritionist for the first time today. Beginning on Sunday I will need to track every morsel of food and every drop of fluids Jackie eats or drinks. They calculate the calories every day. Her minimum daily intake is 1200 calories. They tell us there will be many days when this will be tough to achieve. I would guess that today the intake was not much above 1200 calories. She says nothing tastes good - but I keep hounding her!

Again, things went well. Thanks to everyone for their calls, letters, and emails. I'll continue to update the blog each day.

Bruce and Jackie
Rochester, MN