Day Zero

Hi all! Mom asked me to post an update. Today was Day Zero, aka Transplant Day. We have all been anxiously awaiting this day. And I think we all feel relieved that it came and went so uneventfully.

Brad got to the hospital bright and early. Approximately 2 liters of marrow was aspirated from his pelvic bones. I am told he did well with the procedure and was discharged this afternoon. I think the plan was for him to spend the remainder of the day resting. I know he has a follow up visit tomorrow to check the site of the harvest, but this is just routine and he should do just fine.

Once the marrow was harvested, it was then sent to the lab to be processed. That processing including filtering it and also depleting it of red blood cells. Apparently, this depletion makes it easier for Mom to tolerate the infusion of the marrow.

After the processing was complete, the nurses brought in the marrow. All the nurses kept saying "Happy Birthday!" I suppose that was in recognition of the fact that this is truly a turning point in the treatment.

For Mom, the transplant was a bit anti-climactic, as it was no different than receiving any IV infusion. Yep, that's right, it was given by IV. Somehow, those beautiful stem cells know where they are meant to go and will make their way into the marrow space where they will begin making all the components of normal blood, including red cells, white cells and platelets.

It will take a while for them to make their way there and begin creating new blood cells. In the meantime, Mom's blood counts will start to fall as her own native marrow is now "cleaned out" by the chemo and no longer producing blood cells. During this time, and until the donor stem cells start producing new blood cells, her blood counts will be extremely low. They expect the lowest point to be reached at around Day 7-10. Typically, the new stem cells don't start making large numbers of new blood cells until about Day 21 or so. So, the next couple of weeks may be hard on Mom as we wait for the new marrow to "kick in" and she begins to feel some delayed effect of the chemo drugs.

Many thanks to everyone for all the well wishes and love sent our way. Rest assured that everything is going well and that we've cleared another hurdle!

Stephanie