March 9, 2000 -- Day 0
8:45 am
It's Day 0 and we're on our way. Donnie and I are hanging out it the waiting room. Jon is in surgery -- he went in at 8:00, they expect he'll be about an hour and a half or so. I called Dave's nurse, but she's on rounds. She did tell the receptionist to let us know he's fine. I'll be checking back to see how he is in a little while, then we'll go hang out with him.
I know you're probably as anxious as we are. I'll do my best to keep you posted. I still don't know what time the transplant is scheduled for, but I'll let you know when I find out.
Hope you're all having a good day so far. Keep those positive thoughts and prayers coming!
Noonish
Jon is out of surgery and the doctor says he's talking, so he must be fine. Dave had his last radiation treatment at 10:30, and if feeling okay -- just a little tired. That could be from the anti nausea medication they give him before his treatment. Other than that, he's feeling fine.
Donnie is down with Jon in the recovery room; I'll be heading down to the lobby in a few minutes to meet Jaimison. Then Donnie and I, and Jaimison if he wants to go, will go get some lunch. We're going to get some Legal Seafood Clam Chowder. They serve that in the Dana Farber cafeteria.
I'm doing fine. I'm tired -- getting up a 4:45 will do that to me. But it's worth it. This is a big day! I've heard Day 0 referred to as the patient's birthday, but I haven't heard anyone here call it that. It's just amazing that this day is here. It's seemed so far off for so long.
The transplant will probably take place late this afternoon or early this evening. The lab has the marrow and is processing it. I learned this morning that Jon will actually get some of the cells back later -- the red cells, I think. I wonder what Dave gets. I'll be sure to ask.
It's a beautiful day here in Boston. Supposed to be up near 70! I'll make sure I get some sunshine.
5:00 pm
Not much we can do right now. Dave is sleeping. Jon is sleeping, Jaimison and Donnie have gone home to get some sleep. I ran back to the house, but wanted to spend as much time as I could with Dave, so I'm back, keeping the chair warm. Donnie and I will meet around 7:00 for dinner, then come back.
11:00 pm
We're ready to start the transplant. Transplant is a rather misleading word. People think Dave will be having surgery. Fortunately, he's not. He'll receive Jon's marrow as a transfusion.
Jon, Donnie, Jaimison and I are in the room. The doctor has just come in carrying this little bag of thin reddish liquid. He tells me it's the stem cells from Jon's marrow. The stem cells are the ones that will find their way into Dave's bones and begin producing the red, white and platelet cells that make up blood. I thought Dave would be getting a transfusion from a 2 liter bag of blood, but they gave the leftovers back to Jon earlier today. Dave only gets the stem cells.
The doctor has hooked up the IV line, and the stem cells are making their way through the IV line. We can see a pink line of fluid. It's pretty neat. The whole event is rather anticlimactic, as we've been told several times it would be, but the meaning of it is amazing. We're all watching the fluid make it's way to Dave, knowing that this is a life-giving, life-saving thing.
Thank you, Jon. We may never be able to find the words to tell you how much this means, but please know that we are forever grateful.
The whole transfusion has taken about 10 minutes (seems like so little time for an event we've been planning so many months for). It's late, so we're going to let Dave and Jon get some sleep.
Thanks for joining us on this journey.
Allison