Day +3

Today Brian and I reflected over how differently this transplant is going thus far compared to his last one...it's amazing because according to all of the textbooks and what the doctors have said, an allogeneic transplant (donor cells from another person - the type of transplant he just got) is a much rougher transplant to get through than an autologous transplant (your own cells - the type he got 1.5 years ago).  Well for Brian, this has not been the case at all...he had so many complications with his autologous transplant from the very beginning that really seemed to set him back, and so far his allogeneic transplant has been completely straightforward and he is surpassing everything the doctors hoped for in regards to eating, drinking, exercising, etc.  It is so refreshing for both of us - obviously for Brian this has been so much better than he expected, especially in terms of how he feels physically.  But for me it's also been such a relief and so much less stressful to not have to have the threat of dialysis thrown at us every day.  We know the next 6 months to a year are crucial in terms of not getting infections, etc., but so far he's just coasting right along and we're hoping that this is a great start to a fresh beginning!

Today Brian started to feel a little bit more fatigued than he has the past few days, so I'm guessing his hemoglobin will start dropping soon.  He did not need another platelet transfusion, but just barely - his platelet count was only 11.  He'll definitely need another one tomorrow, but that's ok he handled the first one just fine.  The last several times he received platelets in the spring of 2011 he had reactions to them - hives and chest tightness - so now he gets premedicated with Benadryl, Tylenol, and steroids.  Yesterday went just fine, so let's hope that whatever he needs in the next couple weeks continues to go just as well!  His counts today were: WBC 0.1, hemoglobin 9.1, platelets 11, and creatinine 1.4.  Although he didn't get a platelet transfusion today, I've included photos of his transfusion from yesterday...I having a "girls night out" with a couple of girls, so I didn't get to do the blog.

"The goods"

Relaxing in bed while getting tanked up on platelets:)