Today (well technically yesterday now that it's midnight and I'm blogging after getting home from the hospital) was the day my Dad has been working toward for months. The culmination of one journey and the beginning of another.
Mom was told the donated bone marrow was in the air this morning on its way from Europe. Later in the day she was told they scheduled Dad for 8:00 pm to do the transplant. I went up, and arrived, around 7:50 pm.
Of course, true to hospital time, and European time, everything is late. They told us at 8:00, it would be at least another half hour before they started running the prep drugs through Dad's lines. Well, it was another hour before that started. Then we waited for the bone marrow bag to come up from the lab.
Apparently what happens is the lab syphons out the red cells of the donor, leaving the marrow cells. Then they check the specimen to make sure it's the right donor and it's the right type of donation etc. Once all that checks out, it's sent up to the floor, where they run it through the patient.
Dad started the prep drugs - of which one was Ativan, a muscle relaxer and anti-anxiety medication. He volunteered for that one. They also ran Benedryl - good ol' Benedryl and probably 10 other things. By the time they started to run the actual transplant at 10:20pm, Dad was cozy, relaxed and half asleep. Once they started, they check for any reaction. Dad had some slight shortness of breath and his oxygen saturation level fell a little. They put on the oxygen clips in his nose to help and then once it was over, took them off. They said that is very common. The nurse thought that since the red cells carry the oxygen, when you're introducing the bone marrow cells into the blood stream, it kind of impedes the movement of the Oxygen and you see a little dip in the levels. All was well.
Dad tolerated the transplant very well. NO obvious side effects or immediate reactions. It rolled really smoothly and the donor we had was probably the best possible scenario for my Dad's body. The nurse told us the donor had the same blood type (which is a plus) and then his cell count in the donation was high - also good. The fact that they are a 10-10 match DNA wise to Dad is the best as well. They've pretty much given Dad's body everything they can to boot this junk out, now we wait.
While the bone marrow transplant is working itself into Dad's system, the chemo and radiation are still eradicating Dad's existing cells. It's really unbelievable what the body can do. Now we wait for reactions, infections, and a million other things to show up. Hopefully, few will. In about 14 days, we'll see if Dad experiences any Graft-Host disease (many people do) and that should be about the time we start to see Dad's white cells recover a little. That will be when the transplant cells wake up some more and say "Hey! This ain't my homey". Then they rebel a little and that's the reaction the body has for a while until they calm down.
So...I feel like we're over the hump a bit. This event has been built up so much for us and now that it's done, I know Dad has a million worries, but I feel like we can move on to the next phase of fighting this disease.
I can't tell you how blessed we are to have so many friends and family praying for us, thinking of us, and just checking up on us. I really can't say enough or show my gratitude enough. Thank you. The next part of this road will be a long haul, but if the end result is what we hope for - it will all be worth it.
Keep praying for us. Pray for my Dad's donor. They did an amazing thing. God Bless & Good Night!
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