First thing this morning sitting in reception Beth Harvey (my transplant coordinator) walked in and said she knew I was there...the smell of your body is quite pungent and smells like tomato soup or creamed corn after a stem cell transplant....it will last about 48 hours.
Slept better last night which was due to using the B/A (benadryl/Ativan) pump on a more liberal basis.
Eating and drinking is not attractive at the moment so must keep plugging away.
Lungs, blood pressure are both fine, just waiting for my kidney results.
Okay so my kidneys are taking a bit of a beating, 4.18 a new record for me. They have hooked me up to more fluids and will be discussing what to do with me next. I guess the battle really starts now and for the next 2 weeks, lets hope I come out reasonably intact.
They decided to admit me in to hospital as they want to push IV fluids to help my kidneys but need to monitor me closely. So here I am and nothing has really happened. More news later
Friday, December 10, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Thursday Dec 9th Transplant Day
So Kristy is writing today's entry because Brian is sleeping away right now. The first thing we wanted to say is THANK YOU - everyone has been so supportive during these past few months, we definitely wouldn't have made it through so easily without you all behind us. It's been amazing to see how many people around the world are thinking of us and praying for us every day... Just in case you're interested, here is a list of all of the countries that have people who are following our blog: Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Germany, France, Netherlands, Canada, Australia, Cyprus, Lithuania (not sure who is there!). We are so lucky to have so many friends and family all over.
The first thing Brian noticed this morning was that his face was a little puffy. He's had IV fluid running for 48 hours and it's starting to take it's toll, but Dr. McGuirk said he'd rather have him on the puffy side than run the risk of dehydration. His kidneys are still very touchy - creatinine went up to 3.44 today, even after all of that IV fluid. It's a bit of a bummer, but we expected it and we'll continue to be positive. So after having labs drawn and seeing the doctor at clinic we headed over to the hospital for Brian's transplant. It's all very surreal...I can't really explain how it feels to be driving to the hospital knowing what is coming, but we were both pretty nervous and Brian said he was a little apprehensive. We arrived on the unit and they had his room waiting for us - nice and clean and with a great view! He was pre-medicated with some Benadryl and Tylenol to prevent any reaction that might occur - many people react to the preservative that the stem cells are kept in. And then they started! They are very protective of people's stem cells (as they should be), they're hand carried everywhere and aren't allowed to leave the sight of the person thawing/infusing them. The cells were thawed and had to be infused at just the right temperature, so there was a window of about 10 minutes once they were thawed until they had to be infused, otherwise some of the cells could die. The cells were divided into 4 syringes containing 50mL each of cells. So one by one the syringes were pushed into Brian's central line, each one pushed over 2 minutes. In between syringes he would get a little IV fluid and vital signs taken. All in all, the whole process took about 45 minutes to an hour. Then they monitored him for about 2 hours and we went home.
So now we're at home and Brian is resting comfortably. He's very fatigued and has some intermittent nausea, but overall feels ok. Next week is when we expect the difficult side effects from chemo to take their toll on him. So for now I'll push him to eat and drink and make him lots of milkshakes...doesn't sound too bad!
The first thing Brian noticed this morning was that his face was a little puffy. He's had IV fluid running for 48 hours and it's starting to take it's toll, but Dr. McGuirk said he'd rather have him on the puffy side than run the risk of dehydration. His kidneys are still very touchy - creatinine went up to 3.44 today, even after all of that IV fluid. It's a bit of a bummer, but we expected it and we'll continue to be positive. So after having labs drawn and seeing the doctor at clinic we headed over to the hospital for Brian's transplant. It's all very surreal...I can't really explain how it feels to be driving to the hospital knowing what is coming, but we were both pretty nervous and Brian said he was a little apprehensive. We arrived on the unit and they had his room waiting for us - nice and clean and with a great view! He was pre-medicated with some Benadryl and Tylenol to prevent any reaction that might occur - many people react to the preservative that the stem cells are kept in. And then they started! They are very protective of people's stem cells (as they should be), they're hand carried everywhere and aren't allowed to leave the sight of the person thawing/infusing them. The cells were thawed and had to be infused at just the right temperature, so there was a window of about 10 minutes once they were thawed until they had to be infused, otherwise some of the cells could die. The cells were divided into 4 syringes containing 50mL each of cells. So one by one the syringes were pushed into Brian's central line, each one pushed over 2 minutes. In between syringes he would get a little IV fluid and vital signs taken. All in all, the whole process took about 45 minutes to an hour. Then they monitored him for about 2 hours and we went home.
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| A "good looking" syringe full of stem cells! |
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| Getting his transplant - looks like pureed watermelon, smells like creamed corn |
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| Benadryl doing a good job and helping him get some rest |
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Wednesday Dec 8th (Day -1)
Well, I needed anti nausea meds last night and through the night. Pretty tired this morning. Went into clinic just for labs, this is my 'day off' but we still had to be at the clinic by 7am.
Lab results are all fine except creatinine which went up to 2.51. Home by 10am with another backpack full of saline and anti nausea meds. Tomorrow is the big day...should be fun!
Lab results are all fine except creatinine which went up to 2.51. Home by 10am with another backpack full of saline and anti nausea meds. Tomorrow is the big day...should be fun!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Tuesday Dec 7th (Day -2)
Well my 2nd and final bag of Melphalan has just finished so that's the end of chemo for a while...maybe a long while, we'll see. Next comes the side effects I guess. I was told just this morning that they will peak after transplant so maybe Friday and next week.
My old enemy 'fatigue' is returning, I woke this morning less chipper and starting to feel that low key tiredness creeping in. The window of feeling almost 100% has been short but great, even though I knew it would be taken away. I had been so tired for so long that just to have that 'carrot' of feeling great for a while makes me look forward all the more to getting there again. Creatinine came down again to 2.28.
My old enemy 'fatigue' is returning, I woke this morning less chipper and starting to feel that low key tiredness creeping in. The window of feeling almost 100% has been short but great, even though I knew it would be taken away. I had been so tired for so long that just to have that 'carrot' of feeling great for a while makes me look forward all the more to getting there again. Creatinine came down again to 2.28.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Monday Dec 6th (Day -3) Chemo day
Got to lab at 7am, nice and early. I had a bit of a false start this morning as I was congested with a bit of a headache. Not good on first day of transplant, or as they refer to it at the clinic 'day -3'. My labs came back fine, creatinine is now 2.42 which is still going down.
So back to my congestion/cold/sinus issue, they irrigated my nose and collected what they found in a pot (never did that before..). Then I had a CT scan of my face. Back in clinic the docs had a chat and decided to go ahead.
After the premeds and 15 minutes of Melphalan we came home. A 6 hrs day, not too bad I guess.
So I'm sitting here writing this with my new backpack which contains 2 liters of saline fluid which will run over 20hrs and my anti nausea pump should I need it.
I got lots of new drugs to take and a mouthwash to use. It's called magic mouthwash and protects your mouth from sores by some degree, so far all that has happened is my tongue is numb!
I can see myself getting tangled in my tubes in bed tonight. Oh well.
So back to my congestion/cold/sinus issue, they irrigated my nose and collected what they found in a pot (never did that before..). Then I had a CT scan of my face. Back in clinic the docs had a chat and decided to go ahead.
After the premeds and 15 minutes of Melphalan we came home. A 6 hrs day, not too bad I guess.
So I'm sitting here writing this with my new backpack which contains 2 liters of saline fluid which will run over 20hrs and my anti nausea pump should I need it.
I got lots of new drugs to take and a mouthwash to use. It's called magic mouthwash and protects your mouth from sores by some degree, so far all that has happened is my tongue is numb!
I can see myself getting tangled in my tubes in bed tonight. Oh well.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Wednesday December 1st - Day 1 of Stem Cell collection
Okay so I'm hooked up to the machine as I write. The 6 out of 10 I scored yesterday has been followed up by a great number 59! So I was aiming for more than 10 and I get 59....always the late bloomer..
As my bag of stem cell filled hour after hour and as the nurses were checking me they always made a comment of what a good looking bag it was. When Dr Ganguly saw the bag he said he thought we might finish the collection in one day.. So after 5 hours on the dot I was done. They took a small amount of cells for testing which takes about 1.5 hrs and Kim (one of my nurses) said she'd call to tell me the score and whether I would need to come back for more collection.
3.20pm Kim called with great news, they had collected enough! In fact they had collected an amazing amount. They needed to get 2.5 million cells per kg (of my weight) per transplant, so the number they/I was looking for was 5 million cells per kg because they always try to capture for 2 transplants. What they actually collected was 12 million cells per kg. That's 960,000,000 stem cells in one day! I don't really know how that helps me, but I guess if I can over achieve in the coming weeks and months to the same tune I can say I would be pretty happy, we'll see.
As my bag of stem cell filled hour after hour and as the nurses were checking me they always made a comment of what a good looking bag it was. When Dr Ganguly saw the bag he said he thought we might finish the collection in one day.. So after 5 hours on the dot I was done. They took a small amount of cells for testing which takes about 1.5 hrs and Kim (one of my nurses) said she'd call to tell me the score and whether I would need to come back for more collection.
3.20pm Kim called with great news, they had collected enough! In fact they had collected an amazing amount. They needed to get 2.5 million cells per kg (of my weight) per transplant, so the number they/I was looking for was 5 million cells per kg because they always try to capture for 2 transplants. What they actually collected was 12 million cells per kg. That's 960,000,000 stem cells in one day! I don't really know how that helps me, but I guess if I can over achieve in the coming weeks and months to the same tune I can say I would be pretty happy, we'll see.
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| cleaning up the connection on my central line. |
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| making sure my stem cells are the right color. |
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| all hooked up and relaxing, letting the machines do their work. |
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| Getting hooked up. |
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| The beginning of a 'good looking' bag of stem cells! |
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Tuesday Nov 30th - Stem Cell harvest
No luck today sadly. I got to the BMT Aphoresis dept at 7am and had blood taken. By 9am the results were back and I scored a 6 when I needed a 10 so harvest is delayed till tomorrow. I was given another neupogen shot and will go to the BMT clinic at Westwood at 6pm for a shot of Mozabil another drug to help the stem cells do their stuff...and back for harvest at 7am again in the morning. I've been told it could take 1 to 3 days to collect what they need.
All my other labs were fine except creatinine which has gone up again to 2.92...which is a bit of a bugger! The reason I have felt so good over the last few days is because of an abnormal white blood cell count because of the neupogen.
All my other labs were fine except creatinine which has gone up again to 2.92...which is a bit of a bugger! The reason I have felt so good over the last few days is because of an abnormal white blood cell count because of the neupogen.
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