THE BIG DAY - TRANSPLANT DAY !!

The transplant is complete! Dad got along just fine and didn't have any of the possible symptoms like nausea. The only thing he had was the smell that emanated from him....it happens all the time during a stem cell transplant. I don't understand the theory, but right after the stem cells were going in, he started to smell like creamed corn...or something like that. Every nurse that came in during the transplant said, "yep, you're getting a stem cell transplant". The strange odor goes away in a day usually. Thankfully, I have a bad sense of smell so I barely smelled anything.

I took lots of pictures so you all could see the process, so here they are:

Dad was hooked up to IV fluids at 5:30 this morning to hydrate him. It's important to be very hydrated because as the stem cells enter the body, there are also various red blood cells that are broken and it puts the kidneys under stress to process all those cells. So all day today I have to keep track of input and output...carefully measuring both. The nurses in the transplant room kept track of input and output while he was there, then I continued on when we came back up to our room.

Dad is ready for the transplant in this picture and just waiting for all the premeds and the stem cells to arrive.

Here's Dad all hooked up...looking like the apheresis machine (see the post on April 11). Let's see, where do I begin with all these cords and tubes?? On the right is his Hickman catheter with 2 lumens (tubes) dangling down. This was for the stem cell harvesting and one lumen today accepted the stem cell transplant while the other lumen carried a saline solution at the same time to keep him well hydrated. Dad calls these things "tassles" and has threatened to do a tassle dance (mercifully, he hasn't!). The white circles with attachments are for monitoring the heart during the procedure...like a continual EKG. The bump on his upper right chest (on the left side as you look at the picture) is his port, which has been taking a rest as of late. The catheter has been the workhorse while we've been here.

Here he is just before the transplant, with a bag of sodium bicarbonate dripping along with benadryl and a steroid to ward off any reactions to the transplant. The heart monitor (standard procedure for a transplant) box is weighing down his shirt pocket. (Don't forget to click on these pictures to view them in a larger format)

Since last Monday (the week before 2 days ago), Dad's 600-700 million stem cells have been frozen in liquid nitrogen at a -130 degrees. They arrive in little flat metal boxes...about the size of an I-pad. This picture is the warming bath that each bag of stem cells were submerged into to thaw them out. As you can see, it had to be at a certain temperature and they just barely get them defrosted and then hang them and off they go...back into Dad. By the way...have I said that this type of transplant is called an autologous transplant...meaning it comes from yourself (versus a donor).

An exciting moment...the lady on the right is from the lab that has stored the stem cells and she has just arrived. The red and white cooler holds all 600 million stem cells. The lady on the left is Sandy and she facilitated the process. She thawed them out and hung the bag of cells to drip into Dad. She also verified that they were the proper stem cells.

Here are Sandy and the lady from the lab going through each package of stem cells, doing a double check, matching Dad's name and the batch number and his birthdate...just many ways of checking.

Again, here is one of the metal cases holding a bag of the stem cells. They keep them stored on ice until thawing each one out, one at a time.

This is what each bag looks like frozen. It's a salmon color until it thaws, and then it appears a little darker. Sandy put each bag in another plastic bag and submerged it in lukewarm water and then held it until all the frozen parts were thawed. Each bag was approx. 65 ml in size (that's a little over 1/4 C.) and each bag took about 10 minutes to drip back into Dad. As soon as one bag was hanging to drip, they would take out another bag and double verify the information against Dad's hospital bracelet and then start the thawing process and by then, the other bag had finished draining into Dad and the process was repeated. Dad had 9 bags total. that equaled about 2 1/2 C. of stem cell bags.

Here is a bag after it was thawed. It has turned a darker red and is ready to hang on the IV post.

By this time, the benadryl has been working on Dad and he's a little loopy.

Here are the fluids going into Dad and he is sound asleep. Little does he know that a party is making it's way to his room. A bunch of nurses and coordinators are heading his way. Hopefully he will refrain from drooling! Joanne had come in earlier to decorate with signs.

Here's one of the signs to celebrate the return of the stem cells!

And here's another.

But this one was the favorite of all the nurses and coordinators. It was done by our very talented daughter. Sara, everyone LOVED this sign and it is now going to be added to the cast of signs that goes to every stem cell transplant patient! Way to go! And Dad really loved it!! (Be sure to click on this one so you can read all the words!)

So the party arrived with cymbals and rattles, making a lot of celebratory noise and singing a song about the transplant to the tune of Celebrate. It was a bit corny...but very nice of them to do. As you can see, Dad was fully doped up by this time and tried hard to stay awake with the cymbals and all going on!

Here's a close up of a bag of those miniature miracles known as stem cells, in particular, Dad's.

This picture shows all the machinery that was in action for the transplant. It's all pretty incredible that this process is even possible, considering the main event stem cells aren't even visible except under a very strong microscope.

Here is Sandy and the nurse, once again (as they did with every bag), identifying the tags on the bag to the information on Dad's hospital bracelet.

Sandy and the lab lady, checking out the second batch of stem cell bags.

Yes, Dad's stem cells arrived in an Igloo Playmate cooler...and it was red and white.

Happy to be welcoming back his little stem cells! The P.A. came in during the transplant and has been following Dad's progress. When she found out he was doing great today...blood pressure was very good and very stable, she said, "Boy, Leo, you are just a rock star!".

Dad's request for today was that as he was getting back his life force stem cells, he wanted to watch the digital frame with about 900 photos of family members. Pictures ranging from 1974 when we were married, to very recent pictures. He loves all of these photos of family that tugs on his heart.

Here he just looked up from watching the digital frame for awhile. Notice the smile.

Here's the stack of metal containers that the bags of stem cells came frozen in. I think this was taken just before the final 9th bag was thawed.

The party people also brought Dad a birthday cake (for starting a new life) along with a Live Strong bracelet. Of course they take backstage to the digital frame!

As a final note, I mentioned the importance of Dad being hydrated during this whole event. So after he was disconnected from at least some of the tubes, he said he had to go to the bathroom. The bathroom was attached to his room...it's behind the door with the sign "Go Big T for transplant". So he had to put his "output" in one of those measuring urinal things. He came out and told the nurse and when she went back in there to measure it, she yelled out "holy cow!". He had filled it with 850 ml ...or about 3 2/3 C. of urine! She had never seen that much. So several other nurses and a coordinator had to see it to believe it. I guess there's nothing wrong with his bladder! Anyway, I thought the sign on the door should have read "Go Big P (ee) !

Following the transplant, Dad was doing so good, they let him come back upstairs after about an hour, I think. The transplant started at 9:50 AM and took til about 11:20. So we came back upstairs and Dad was hungry for lunch so we ate and he has been taking it easy, but is now talking about taking a little walk. We can't go quite as briskly as we have, because he's still hooked up to the saline bag, but it's almost done. Dad has to give a urine sample here soon to make sure there's no blood in the sample. If it's clear, he can be unhooked from the iv pole. If there is some blood, it's not big deal, he just will have to get another bag to flush things out.

All in all it's been one fantastic day.