Wednesday May 26 2010 was for me “Day 0″, meaning the day I got my previously-harvested peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cells re-infused. Yay.
Here’s the excited recipient ready to go:
Transplant-ready
Note the product placement, laptop fans. Also I’m wearing my dragon shirt for power. Let me further acknowledge that all photos in this post were taken by my caregiver and personal paparazza, Eve.
Though a key milestone, it’s not particularly dramatic, just another transfusion of many. The most exciting part is the emergence of the frozen stem cells, which have been kept on liquid nitrogen since March:
Cells starting to thaw
Our nurse Gemma likes to call them “mojo”. Eve thought it looked like liver.
It’s a very nice thing that these people are so careful with this stuff.
After thawing they’re hung up on the rack to be dripped in:
Mojo goin' down
This part only takes an hour or so. But all the recent procedures have also included lots of IV hydration before and after so the whole affair took all day. They also wait to make sure the patient is really there before bringing the cells off the ice, so there’s some extra waiting.
Another side effect: the cells are stored with DMSO, which causes weird scratchy throat feelings after infusion and apparently smells very bad to others in the vicinity. Not that I care.
This is the turning of the trend line: assuming no further detours, my system will no longer be getting knocked down, but will start building itself up. For the moment though it is pretty much a low point in terms of how I feel, as all the bad stuff has been done, though some of it (e.g. TBI) still has effects to show, and the beneficial effects of the mojo won’t show for 10 to 14 days. So my main goal is to try to stay out of the hospital during that time. Apparently relatively few people are able to do so. I’ll do my best. And if not, it’s much easier on my caregiver to have the professionals handle it …
Bob, Eve is quite a photagrapher.You look amazing even after all you have endured. I’m exited you are on the rebuild trail and look forward to making good on the promise of a day of sailing. Please let us know if you have any needs. Stay out of the hospital and hope to see you soon. Bill
You continue to amaze me. I’ve come to expect your wisdom and knowledge in all things middleware but you have gone through one of life’s most difficult moments with humor, strength, and dignity in a way I have never seen before. Here’s to the quick rebuilding of all that is good.