Stem Cells Return

Monday July 15, 2012
Quail Run RV Resort Lot 15
Wesley Chapel, Florida

 

First I want to thank The Good Luck Ducks for the shout out today to our blog.  They have a devoted following and some of those folks have showed up over here. Since I shamelessly love comments, that’s a cool thing.   Thanks DUCKS!!  And now, back to the regular program.

I don’t much like to shop so I try to make short work of it.

Sunday, Day –1,  is a rest day.  I get up and go running then spend the morning getting David another laptop.  Don’t know if he’ll want to keep it but Best Buy assured me that it could be returned within 30 days for our money back.  He kept himself occupied getting it up and running with his email accessible which proved to be a big challenge especially with his University of Virginia account.  But at least he isn’t having eye strain looking at that double window screen. 

 

I also pick up a boom box for him since there is amazingly no radio in this room and he likes to listen to NPR in the morning.  In addition, we brought books on tape for me to listen to on my walkman while I run.  I know he will enjoy being able to listen to them as well.  I can get tapes at Goodwill for as little as a dollar and now I know why.  No one makes a cassette recorder anymore or certainly not one in a boom box.  I check Best Buy, Target, K-Mart and finally Wal-Mart before finding the one and only one Wal-Mart has.

 

Take a good look at what is becoming extinct.  Cassette is on the top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Otherwise, the day is happily uneventful. 

 

It is quiet due to the smaller week-end crew.  There are fewer people coming around just taking care of basics.  Much of the day is just taken up getting acquainted with how things work.

They explain that the melphalan had done its job and marked the cells that are going to be killed.  But the killing will take place over the next week or so.  Therefore the effects won’t be noticeable until that starts happening.  David is still feeling pretty normal and his blood numbers have actually increased each day.  They will crash and the possible side effects come on strong during these next days.

As a couple of people pointed out in the comments, this is a large room with a nice sofa which we turned to face out to see the trees and clouds.  That seems to have surprise some of the staff as apparently no one else has done that.

Here’s the what you see outside if you stand right by the window and look out.

 

This is the view from the bed out that same window.

 

Also in the room is a nice recliner chair, plenty of space for his clothing and other things.  In fact, David had me pace the room off and we have determined that it is larger than the indoor space in Winnona.  She is 34’ 8” from bumper to bumper but probably 25’ from driver’s chair to rear wardrobe.  I paced off the room with my boat sized sandals at about 30.5’ in length and 15’ wide.  As you can see he has his “other things” all over the place. 

 

It’s DAY ZERO!

Monday is the day the stems cell return.  I spend the morning making a lot of food for myself so that I will not have to come home for dinner in the evening or eat in the cafeteria. 

He is working on his laptop when I arrived and shortly the physical therapist Emily comes to see what sort of shape he is in before transplant so they can set realistic expectations for him after transplant.
In addition to testing his arms, having him tap his toes and stand one legged on each of his feet, she has him walk up and down the hall in this belt thing.   New Japanese style for David.

 

Just before she leaves, his nurse Vance comes in to prepare him for the return of his stem cells.  He gets all the machinery set up and David hooked up to it.

 

 

Here they come!

About 1:15 a technician from the stem cell storage group comes with the first bag of cells.  I believe she says they will use 4000 of his 8500 and they will come in three bags.   Vance asks her to bring the second one in 15 minutes.

 

 

He hooks the stem cell bag up to the central line.

 

David is watching them drip along the line and return to his body.
I’m wondering how cold they must be if they were frozen.

Each subsequent bag is delivered at 15 minute intervals and it is all finished by 2:30.  A saline drip continues for another 90 minutes.

While he’s hooked to the heart monitor and saline drip, David says he’s ready for lunch so I bring him his full food tray with lasagna, salad, roll, cake and I don’t know what else.  A lot of food. 

 

Uh oh!

He only takes a couple of bites before the vomiting begins.  In about 20 minutes, Vance gives him anti nausea medication and he falls asleep without eating.

He sleeps for the next hour or so.  A deep snoring type of sleep.  Part of the protocol for the transplant is benadryl to induce the sleep and I am glad he is able to rest.  He is still not sleeping well at night.  Waking every hour and sometimes more often if the nursing staff comes in to “check his vital signs”. 

He wakes up about 5:20 seemingly no worse for the wear and tear.  Vance comes in and says the saline drip has to go for 4 hours but he can unhook it at 6:00.   That probably means 6:30.   David goes back to sleep.   I read blogs and comment.

He wakes up when his dinner is delivered and he says he feels like eating it and does.  Guess that anti nausea medicine is working.

David calls and Vance shows up about 6:30. Once he’s unhooked, we go for the prescribed walk around the unit. He’s supposed to do 4 laps  (11 laps is a mile) three times a day.  A walk is defined as starting at one set of double doors that lead into the hallway, walking to a second set of double doors and back. Doing this twice is one lap.  It’s a horse shoe shaped unit.  It feels to me like running around a VERY tiny indoor track over and over and over and….. He is not allowed outside the unit until he is discharged.   For now, his world has shrunk to his room and the hallway outside it.

He’s obviously feeling better since we do 6 laps which is just over half a mile.  I  don’t think he is too tired to do more but he wants to be back in time to watch the The Daily Show and the Colbert Report.  It’s a rare treat for him as we have never had cable.  We aren’t TV watchers.  Winnona still has the big old analog TV and we see no reason to change it to watch an occasional DVD.  But here, in a hospital where time passes slowly, he finds Stewart and Colbert funny and that’s a good thing just now.