Reunited

I did not catch the "dry ice fog" that churned from the canister, but it looked eerie.

This morning’s procedure went smoothly. It was quite interesting. Teri, the Red Cross employee pushed a dolly holding a liquid nitrogen canister, and a cabinet with a microwave on it into our room. The canister held 3 pouches with Don’s frozen stem cells inside. Each pouch contained two packets. Teri took out one at a time and warmed each packet in a warm saline solution, and then in the microwave (or perhaps it was vice-verse, I did not watch closely enough). She moved the cells into syringes and Sarah, the Nurse Practitioner, pushed them slowly into Don’s catheter, and thus into his circulating blood. They coordinated the operation so that when one syringe was empty the next one would be ready to go. For a while, one of the doctors overseeing Don’s transplant was with us too. Don’s bedside nurse, Ryan, took vitals all the while, checking heart rate, blood pressure, etc. Don was a bit sleepy because of the IV Benadryl they gave him before hand to keep him from having an allergic reaction to the infusion. But he was alert enough to chat and joke during the whole procedure. It was very low-key, and took about an hour and a half. Some of the things they told us might happen, did not. He wasn’t cold, didn’t run a fever or cough. At one point his breathing was a little shallow (due to the sleepiness), so he was given oxygen. He does smell a bit funny because of the chemical in which the cells are suspended, DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide). Don sucked on peppermints so he did not have a strong taste in his mouth, but his breath will have the chemical smell for the next day or two.

Sarah has the gift of gab and many subjects were covered.

It is a relief to have this over with because without his stem cells he would die from the heavy-duty chemo he received. Sarah told us that in the Spanish language “stem cells” are called “mother cells.” She likes this terminology because it so well describes their function. These cells are the ones that become all of the other kinds of cells in our blood and body. Nice to know that Don has been reunited with his.

Although Don has experienced very few side effects so far, but he will experience at least some of them in the coming weeks. Nausea, mouth sores, hair loss and fatigue are the most common. Our nurse explained why this all happens after the chemo drugs have left his body (and they have). It's complex.

We are tired, but content. End of day four.