So here is some information to share about the transplant. First of all good for Daniel, this is the first kid they have transplanted here that has ever been this healthy going into transplant, and not on isolation. That of course works well in Daniel’s favor and we are so proud that he has kept so healthy. Speaking of being healthy he started the afternoon with a full burger, fries and milkshake (also another first, a kid with such a big appetite at this point). So Daniel’s donor was remarkably able to give 2 liters cells. I say remarkable because you need to understand what kind of volume that is for a bone marrow donation. Then they do a biopsy, they take a tablespoon to sample. The transplant nurse says she has never heard of that much been taken. MIRACULOUS. Maybe this guy must have been a giant??? The cells arrived by personal delivery on time last night (by an angel volunteer) at 9pm last night. This morning the cells were spun down and washed and (the greatest volume on record) 93% of the cells were recovered to give to Daniel. This is a huge amount to get his new system off to a great start. Daniel will be going from A+ to A- blood type which is kind of crazy to think about after this transplant. We started the transplant at 12:45 and absolutely no excitement. Doctors and nurses were in and out to see it happen for the whole afternoon, because yes, even they all think it is miraculous and a BIG DEAL. Now this bag of gold doesn’t just get pushed in through a pump, every cell drops in slowly by gravity. A pump could possibly damage a cell and this is liquid gold. It is life. You can’t be too careful. Every drop is precious and they can’t waste a single cell. As my sister said, if she could have placed every cell by hand into his body she would have. As Daniel eased into the transplant with no reaction (insert sigh of relief) we celebrated with a “NEW BIRTHDAY” cake. After all if this isn’t a cause for cake I don’t know what is. This infact is a rebirth of sorts. Like it or not kid you just got a second shot at life. The rest of the afternoon was mostly uneventful, although many nurses came in to see the process. Only Deb, the transplant coordinator does transplant but the rest of the nurses are all excited to see it happen in hopes of learning the process. It is a happy day for everyone to see Daniel having his transplant. At the last hour Daniel’s blood pressure raised and he got a bit of a headache requiring Lasix. This is something they expected with the volume of cells he received. He finished up strong at 4:30 and all important players enjoyed a piece of cake. So as we were told It was pretty anticlimactic. First thing so far. Let’s hope things stay this way.
Now what? We wait. Wait and watch and hope for the best. In the next few weeks his numbers will continue to drop and he will probably feel like crap. Meanwhile those beautiful stem cells will be finding their way and purpose in his body and doing their thing to multiply. And when they do they will be his own. During this time we will hope for no illness or infection or rejection or excitement and then we see numbers come up and then we go home. This could be several days or it could be weeks. Fingers crossed for smooth sailing ahead. Let’s move into the next quarter of the game.