Naomi’s blood pressure was well controlled today.  That is two days without a headache, too. The nausea was a bit more today but knowing she was getting her new cells, she actually ate well today.  She had a BLT sandwich and scrambled eggs for breakfast.  Then she had 2 chili dogs and potato puffs for dinner.

Naomi spent hours in her ladybug tent today.  While I read to her, she played with play doh, colored or just rested.  Her energy levels are very low and her body feels heavy from fatigue and all the fluids that she is getting in her IV.

We are now in the phase where we mostly wait patiently and deal with the side effects.  The side effects of chemo are definitely more this time than last transplant.  Naomi needs help getting dressed, going to the bathroom, even eating.  She doesn’t have much energy and is asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow.  There doesn’t seem to be need for melatonin this time around.

Micayah did well today.  He was uncomfortable when going from sitting to standing or standing to sitting.  Still, he ditched the wheelchair about 3/4 through the day.  He was asleep very early though tonight.  He has completely refused pain medicine.

The transplant happened at 4pm Central. About an hour prior, her Dr texted me to say he was coming to discuss the cell counts and it was good news. Yes, he texted me. That is why we came here. His communication is amazing.

The amount of marrow taken from Micayah was based on Naomi’s weight. The amount he could give is based on his size. But because of her being smaller, he gave about half of what he could. That was good. The doctor then told us that when the cell count was done on Micayah’s cells it was all good news.  They basically look for 400-500 cells per unit.  They will take as little as 200 cells per unit.  Micayah had about 900 cells per unit!  That means they could use only half his marrow and freeze the other half.  That is fantastic news all around.  It means Micayah was a great donor.  It also means that there is more frozen should the need for it arise.  Plus, the fewer units Naomi receives the better the chance for her to not get graft versus host disease.  We were very happy with all that news.

Naomi’s nurses made this sign and hung it on her bathroom door for her to see.

There are a few signatures missing that we plan to get throughout the week.  I honestly cannot say enough good things about the staff at CHW.  Having gone through this before, I have a comparison.  I wasn’t terribly discontent with the first transplant to begin with but CHW is amazing.

Here is a video of the transplant getting set up. It was fairly low-key.

Here is her transplant starting.  It is going into the catheter in her chest which puts the marrow directly into her central venous system.

 

She had to stay in bed for the hour the transplant transfusion went into her. Then she had to remain there for 2 hours of monitoring.

While she had her monitoring, Micayah and I ran for dinner at the RMH. Then we brought Culver’s frozen custard and 2 friends to have an ice cream party with Naomi in the family room on the BMT unit. It was a great way to get her out of the room today. Plus Culver’s is so so good.

I am hopeful that the last of our exhausting days is past. I was excited when the floor doctor talked about getting her meds approved for outpatient because that process can take 2-3 weeks. Yay! We are starting to discuss that AND plan ahead. That makes a mom excited. That means we won’t be waiting to be released for medicine approvals. We’ve dealt with all that before.

We expect 2-3 weeks to see recovery. In the meantime, we read books, walk the halls and do puzzles. And sleep. We definitely will sleep. My blog posts are not all that exciting these days as I have needed to care for both Micayah and Naomi and am feeling it quite a bit.

Aaron mailed us some things from home that arrived yesterday and that included all her prayer blankets. So that was just in time. Tomorrow I will be packing up Micayah and preparing him to go home. That will be difficult. I miss him already.