LOCATION: Vanderbilt University Hospital - Stem Cell Unit
DATE: 8.14.12 DAY: 0
MOOD: Excited in spite of feeling terrible.
MENTAL STATE: ready for the day
PHYSICAL STATE: nauseated, and groggy from drugs
I spent the morning sleeping. I was full of nausea medications as the radiation treatment seemed to do a real number on my stomach. My stomach had decided it would no longer tolerate food or liquids. I made small attempts to eat light foods but could not keep anything down. I slept until 3:00pm.
The exact time of transplantation was up in the air as we were waiting on the hospital lab to complete their filtering process. Finally, around 6:00p they gave me pre-meds for the transplant which included steroids and a heavy dose of Benadryl. My parents and husband were gathered in the room with me and kept the mood upbeat and exciting, however, I was only able to listen and smile with my eyes closed because the Benadryl was working against me. Around 7:00p, a nurse practitioner and my attending nurse came with two small bags filled with the bone marrow. The transfusion itself is a simple affair; the bone marrow filled bags were connected to my IV line and gravity was allowed to do its thing. Once started, my vitals were taken every fifteen minutes to keep an eye out for any reaction. By the time bag two was started, my Benadryl haze had lifted and I felt the best I had felt all day. My family and my nurse had a good time chatting and talking about the transplant until it finished.
The transplant brought with it a new blood type, DNA, and, because it was a male donor, an XY chromosome. It would seem my body has a lot of new things to get used to. The remainder of the day was spent resting and it ended on a good high note.
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