It's ZERO DAY!

In the Stem Cell Transplant world, your transplant day is called Zero Day.  Today Joe had his Stem Cell Transplant.  He did great with virtually no side effects.  He started the day with a hot shower while he was still disconnected from Gertie, then started two hours before his transplant with lots of IV fluids, had the transplant about 11 am which took about an hour (5 bags of stem cells), followed by two more hours of IV fluids.  Some of his blood levels did dip a bit low today so he got two units/bags of blood this evening.  Having transfusions like this is not unexpected during this process and we anticipate this will continue over the next couple of weeks.

They anticipate over the next two weeks he'll lose approximately 20lbs, but that hasn't started yet.  All indications are that most of the major side effects of all this treatment will start somewhere around Sunday (Day 2) and as previously mentioned, next week will be very rough.  

He's been taking daily walks around the floor to continue to build his bone strength.  He's had a couple of sleepless nights and has struggled a bit with a dry cough.  Better living through chemistry is taking care of those two minor issues.  Overall, he continues to feel pretty good.  As a matter of fact, when I called him tonight, he answered the phone laughing and I could hear the nurses laughing with him in the background.  I'm sure they've not seen many characters like Joe before.  

So how does this process work?  Joe was able to use his own stem cells.  Three weeks ago he went through a harvesting process.  They collected 5.3 million stem cells from him.  When they harvested the stem cells, they are immediately frozen.  Today they used 1/2 of his frozen stem cells and the remaining 1/2 will be frozen for up to 7 years in case he needs to do this again in the future (which is a good possibility).  The frozen stem cells arrived in an canister (see above) in 5 IV bags.  They are basically put in hot water for a rapid defrost (see picture above) then hung on the IV pole and are put in through the port in his chest.  As you can see, they look like a dark red slushy.  All those stem cells travel through his blood stream, attach themselves to his bones and start growing.  God is amazing the way he has built the human body!

Thanks for all your prayers and kind words.  He's definitely feeling them!  He says he's the most loved man on the planet :)  (and I have to agree!!)