Wednesday, October 13...Day 0...Transplant Day!

Today was the big day, the day Collin would get back some of his stem cells that were collected on Memorial Day. The last five months of chemo, plus the mega high doses of chemo that Collin received last week, all led up to today. Without the stem cell rescue today, Collin's blood counts would not recover from the high dose chemo.

It was important that the stem cells not be transfused too early so that they were not affected by any of the chemo drugs, so Monday and Tuesday were "days of rest" between the last dose of chemo and the stem cell transfusion. Monday afternoon was the last of the every-six-hour baths (YAY!), and I also replaced Collin's feeding tube. Tuesday, Collin had a transfusion of blood platelets, which help the blood to clot. He also had great therapy sessions with the occupational and physical therapists.

This morning began with another transfusion of blood platelets, because despite yesterday's transfusion, his platelet count continued to drop. There was a lot of behind-the-scenes prep for the stem cell transfusion, which was scheduled to take place around 11:00 am, but our morning was pretty routine and quiet. Collin was assigned a nurse who spent most of the day in his room, to monitor his blood pressure and heart closely. A cart carrying a container that held the stem cells still frozen in liquid nitrogen, as well as a machine to thaw them, was wheeled into the room. Two of the attending oncologists, Collin's nurse practitioner, the nurse assigned to monitor him, and another nurse who was observing the procedure, all gathered in the room with us. Collin had already been pre-medicated with the usual Tylenol, Benadryl, and Zofran to prevent allergic reactions and nausea, and was hooked up to the blood pressure and heart monitors. The man who brought the stem cells to the room thawed them right there, and then the nurse practitioner injected them slowly into the IV line connected to Collin's Broviac. In less than ten minutes, the stem cell infusion was complete, and because the Benadryl made Collin drowsy, he slept through the procedure. There were no complications with Collin's blood pressure or heart rate, and other than the smell of the preservative the stem cells were stored in, which smells like creamed corn, there are no other lingering side effects from the procedure. Collin's breath and diapers should stop smelling like creamed corn in a day or two. Now we just wait for the stem cells to graft and help bring Collin's blood counts back up, and hope that he doesn't develop a bad case of mucositis over the next week. Thank you for all of the love and prayers that have been sent our way!