Transplant - Days 0 and +1

This has been a wild ride so far, and it's only been two days.  And to be honest, there are parts that are very foggy for me, but I'll do my best to recap.

Day 0 - Transplant Day
I started the morning (Thursday) by hooking myself up to my IV pump for four hours of fluids.  This was required before my radiation appointment.  Around 11:30, we headed over to SCCA to prep for the appointment.  I had never had radiation before, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  It was actually much easier than I had expected.  I had TBI--total body irradiation.  This is done before transplant to attack my immune system which creates more space in my marrow for the new cells.  We want my immune system to be fairly inactive so that it doesn't fight off the new donor cells.  The procedure required me to lie down for about an hour with several markers on my body, and that was it.  I didn't feel anything at all.  No pain, no heat.  It was a pretty simple procedure.

However, about an hour after we returned to the apartment, I became extremely nauseous.  That's not uncommon, which is why I took an anti-nausea med before the appointment, but it apparently didn't work.  I also developed a severe vise-like headache very quickly.  Philip spent some time on the phone with my transplant team, and because my nausea was getting worse, they decided to send me to the hospital a bit earlier.  I was scheduled to be admitted at 8pm, so we just jumped the gun a bit.  I got settled in the hospital, they got me on IV nausea meds, and I napped. My cells arrived around 3:30am, and the actual transplant started quickly and was uneventful.  They hooked the bag of cells up to my IV, and it took around 4 hours to complete the infusion.  No problems at all.  So, because the  transplant didn't start until after midnight, Day 0 is actually Friday, June 17.

After that, things get a bit foggy for me.  The nausea continued, I was on a lot of meds, and I slept most of the day.  My parents brought the kids in for a quick visit that evening--it was great to see them.  They had finished school the day before and had all sorts of exciting stories to tell us.

Day +1
Today was the first day after transplant and was a little more of the same.  The goal is to get past the nausea, start to eat again (I hadn't eaten since Wednesday), and try to take some of my meds orally rather than IV.  That's how I'm going to get out of the hospital.  So I worked hard today at taking a few bites of anything--cereal, soup, toast.  Just had to get something in my stomach, even though I have absolutely no appetite.  I slept a lot, worked on my meds--by tonight, I've been able to take all meds orally.  And no vomiting today.  That's big.  We got another visit from the kids--love seeing their sweet faces. Truly, my reminder as to why I'm going through all of this.  To be honest, these days are numbingly boring, but I know they're important steps considering everything that is going on in my body with the new cells taking over.  I just try visualizing them attacking those cancer cells and obliterating them.  Over and over again.

My plan tomorrow is to BEG to get out of the hospital.  I think I've met my goals, so we should good.  It'll be nice to get back to the apartment where I can walk around without an IV pole and have a better bed (and no nurses waking me up during the night).  But this is a good place to be when you need this type of care.  My nurses have been excellent and so kind.  Still, I'd rather be back to our own place as soon as possible.

It's crazy to think that after all of the planning, and the many, many appointments, tests, scans, biopsies, the transplant has actually happened.  Now we pray for the results we want to see.