Finish the Drill

The Transplant!

Jeff at 9 AM, getting ready for his pre-meds.

Order of Events.

J & M Self portrait right before Stem Cell push.

Nurse Purnima pushed 8 vials of stem cells...took about 30 minutes.  Jeff was sad to know he did not collect the most stem cells ever, but he did collect a lot...6.2 million.  2 million is usually plenty.....

For those of you wanting the gross details, these are stem cells.  Pretty much just looks like blood.

Jeff about 20 minutes after transplant.  He was supposed to fall asleep...

Jeff & his Mom and Dad about 2 hours after transplant.

He is doing really well.  He is up and around and feeling fine.  The doctor said to expect to have a good weekend.  Will unfortunately start to feel yucky next week as his counts drop, but they can only go up from there!  Thanks again for all the support, M

PS: and the smell of creamed corn is really unbelievable!  They weren't kidding!

Happy Birthday Jeff!

Hi Everyone!  Thought I'd post real quick before all the fun starts here in about an hour.  Jeff is all checked in and we are just waiting to see Dr. Holland and get his IV meds started.  He'll get Benedryl and Ativan (anti-nausea) in case he has an allergic reaction to the stem cells.  Compared to everything else he has been through, it seems today will be a walk in the park!

We are told the infusion of stem cells will smell.  Choices are: garlic, bad eggs, or creamed corn.  We are hoping for creamed corn!  Once he has the transplant, they'll keep an eye on him for a few hours and we should be released by 3pm.

This past week has been quite tough, lots of vomiting and just plain Yucky feelings for Jeff.  Trying to keep him medicated every few hours meant very little restful sleep for either of us.  So we are both tired today but looking forward to the next few weeks as he slowly regains his immune system and feels better.

Please send all your positive thoughts towards his immune system keeping him germ and infection free for the next 16 days!

Today's pic: the folks at the gym are doing 100 daily JWODS (Jeff's Workout of the Day) on top of their regular workouts.  JWODS have ranged from 100 sit-ups to 96 seconds of a handstand.  Pictured are Spike and Sophie completing the handstand JWOD.

Today is the big day

Today is transplant day- commonly referred to as Birthday!  Hence, the pic of the cake.  Will update everyone as soon as I can.