Skip to main content

Day 0

Yesterday, November 6, 2020 was Day 0, the day that my donor’s stem cells were infused. This is obviously a BIG day for me which is affectionately referred to as my new birthday.  Given all the preparation and planning, the process was somewhat anticlimactic.  It was simply a 30 minute infusion of the donor cells through my Central Venous Catheter (CVC) line.

I’m actually feeling pretty well, other than bad fatigue and nausea.  I’m told that the next 2 weeks are typically the most difficult since the cumulative affects of the chemotherapy kick in and my blood counts will continue to drop to near zero as my old immune system is replaced.

At this point, there is a few day pause in the process (until Day+3).   They are constantly monitoring my vitals and blood counts, and based upon that give infusions to replace electrolytes along with preventative meds to protect my organs and against infections.

Gary



Comments

  1. Happy New Birthday from Belle and I!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yay! What a incredible journey you’ve had to get to this day. We’re keeping positive thoughts for a complete recovery.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Glad to continue to read your positive updates. Wishing you positive outcomes. Stay strong!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Story

 Hello Family and Friends, Thank you for following my blog and your love and support over the years and especially now during my Journey to a Cure.  I thought I would start this BLOG by telling my story and how I got to the point where a bone marrow transplant is the next best step in my cancer battle.  And hopefully a long term, durable cure. In September 2008, during a routine physical exam, my white blood cell count came back unusually high. The next month was busy with many doctor appointments, tests, learning, and ultimately a diagnosis - at the age of 44 I had cancer and specifically CLL or Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.   CLL is usually an older patient disease, a slowly progressing disease, and at the time already had some good treatment options.  Many CLL patients never need treatment and I had the “good marker”, 13q deletion to be technical. CLL is not hereditary (although my Uncle Marc did have CLL later in his life) and like many cancers the exact cau...

The Process

In prior posts, I’ve referred to the “process” of the bone marrow transplant.  And quite the complex, multiple step and lengthy process it is. The first step is to repeat a series of outpatient tests to confirm that I’m fit for the transplant.  This is ongoing for the week of October 5th at MD Anderson.  At the end of this testing, I will get a central venous line (CVC) inserted for the next steps and ultimately the donor stem cell infusion. I’ll check into the hospital on October 10 to begin the second step which is referred to as “conditioning”.  This involves chemotherapy to bring your immune system to zero in order to prepare for its replacement with the donor’s immune system.   During this time, the donor will be going through a procedure called Apheresis to harvest his stem cells from his peripheral blood. The cells will be cryogenically frozen and transported to MD Anderson.  The donor cells were collected on October 7 and now on the way to Houston. ...

Day +108: Back home in Colorado

 “Country roads, take me home, to the place, I belong” We arrived in Houston on October 28, 2020 during the aftermath of Hurricane Zeta and finally left Houston on February 19, 2021 during the cleanup of the worst winter storm to hit Texas in decades.   That’s 114 days for those counting, like Connie and I.  The winter disaster in Texas was as crippling as you read - millions including us were out of power, heat, water and even internet for several full days.  Even the hospitals were closed for a full week, primarily due to a lack of running water.  Houston really showed it’s true colors with neighbors helping each other and even “Mattress Mack” opening his mattress showrooms to help those in need of a warm place to sleep. The big Day +100 milestone (from the donor cell transplant on November 6th) came and went as it was overshadowed by the winter disaster.  We had remained in Houston for a final blood test in order to leave with confidence that my White Bl...