I was admitted into UNMC on Friday, November 18, 2011. I started the chemo that day. The chemo I received was more than what I had been getting in the past. I had chemo on Friday night and Saturday night. Bright and early I went down to Radiation on Sunday morning. I received Radiation on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and I have the tan to prove it. It's mostly dry skin now. The first few days in the hospital I felt great. The chemo never really hit me until day 3. Once I started the full body radiation I went downhill from there. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I was very sick the next few days and really tired. Then on Wednesday, November 23, 2011 I received the transplant. We started about 8:30 in the morning. I was given some pre-meds to help with the side effects and then the first bag was hung. The whole process took about an hour to do. Cody's donation had a total of 4 bags.
For the first time that week I felt amazing. I had energy, I didn't feel sick to my stomach and I thought this is going to be a breeze in the park if its this easy. Mom, Dad and Cody showed up later that day and visited with Josh and I for a good portion of the day. It was Wednesday night so we all had our shows on ABC so mom, dad and Cody left a little early so they could go watch the shows in their hotel room. Josh and I both enjoyed watching our shows with out the kids there screaming throughout them.
The next day which would have been Day +1 was another story. I was sick to my stomach and had multiple other problems going on. The Dr. said it was normal to feel like that the day after transplant so they were not going to push me into doing much that day.
On Day +3 we were able to move up to Co-op Care which is still part of the inpatient hospital but Josh takes over as my primary care-giver. He's responsible for making sure that I get my medications on time. He has to take my vital signs and record the information in a book for the nurses and Dr's. We do still have a Nurse that will come in and help with anything that we may need. She also is the one responsible for any narcotics that I may need. All of the co-op nurses have been pretty amazing. It's so much nicer here in Co-op because you have freedom. The staff doesn't come in every hour to check on you which I think gets really annoying. We can't leave the hospital grounds and Josh can only leave me unattended for 20 minutes at a time for bathroom breaks, laundry, going to the cafeteria, etc.Every morning we walk down to the treatment center where the Dr's. will make their rounds on the Co-op patients. The Dr that has been making rounds on us for 2 weeks is Dr. Faber and he lived in Pittsburgh so now Josh thinks that he is the best Dr. in the whole world. One morning I had the privilege of listening to those two discuss Pittsburgh football and hockey for longer than I would of cared for.
I am now on Day +11 and doing really well. The Dr. keeps telling me that I am ahead of schedule so that's a bonus. My counts have started coming back up so I have officially engrafted Cody's cells. That doesn't mean I'm quite out the woods yet. I could still experience Graft VS. Host Disease but we are keeping our fingers crossed that it doesn't happen especially with all the medications I'm on to prevent it.
Thank you to everyone that has kept me in their prayers. I know we needed them and I will continue to take as many as I can until we know for sure that this 100% in my past.