HAPPY TRANSPLANT DAY!
Today Gary received his stem cells. It was quite a procedure! They started early in the morning taking blood draws to record his red and white blood counts and then hydrated him for 4 hours. The lab sent up Gary's stem cells still frozen in a little cooler.
One nurse stood outside Gary's room and would place a bag of his stem cells in a warm water bath to thaw out. She would then draw it into a large syringe and hand it to one of the nurses inside his room.
The nurse inside the room would then slowly administer the stem cells into Gary's central line. They used 10 syringes and it took about an hour and a half to complete it.
The whole process was relative easy on Gary and we had a good time joking around with the nurses.
Many call the stem cell transplant "your second birth". Gary told the nurses that this was his third birth. His first was when he was born. The second, when he accepted Christ as his Savior at age 9 and then today, his third birth receiving the stem cells. He then told them that the second one was the most important!
One nurse stood outside Gary's room and would place a bag of his stem cells in a warm water bath to thaw out. She would then draw it into a large syringe and hand it to one of the nurses inside his room.
The nurse inside the room would then slowly administer the stem cells into Gary's central line. They used 10 syringes and it took about an hour and a half to complete it.
The whole process was relative easy on Gary and we had a good time joking around with the nurses.
Many call the stem cell transplant "your second birth". Gary told the nurses that this was his third birth. His first was when he was born. The second, when he accepted Christ as his Savior at age 9 and then today, his third birth receiving the stem cells. He then told them that the second one was the most important! Gary was able to come home today and will just have to go to the hospital every morning for the next 21 days for them to monitor his blood counts and make sure everything is going well. Thank you for your prayers. The important thing now, will be that these new "baby" cells will engraft into his bone marrow and will start making new white and red blood cells and platelets.
Congratulations Gary! We wish you all the best.
ReplyDeleteNational Bone Marrow Transplant Link Staff