Well this is the day that the stem cells collected back on October 4 were put back in. Day started at 8:00 a.m. – took the blood work, checked weight, temp by Nurse Jo (short for JoAnn – great lady!!). We were told stem cells would be delivered up to HIPOP at 10:00. Don was given Zofran the anti-nausea medication because he had such a rough afternoon yesterday with stomach being so unsettled and queasy. Stem cells were delivered around 10:15ish. Don would be given 300 ml – which broke down into 6 bags (units) – and they were rather small in size. Oh prior to this Nurse Practitioner Kelly came and chatted with Don – just the normal questions as to how he was feeling, checked breathing and for swelling in the ankle area.
10:25 am – first bag was hooked up and infused with 5 to go. Each bag took 3-5 minutes to empty. As soon as 1 was done the other was prepared. During the infusion Don’s vitals were constantly being monitored. If his blood pressure or heart rate were to go up at all during the infusion they could slow down the flow to help lower these – his vitals were monitored throughout the entire process.
After the 3rd bag Don’s stomach really got upset so they had to wait a bit before going on to the 4th bag. After waiting just a short while they proceeded with bag 5 and by 11:06 the entire process of the stem cell transplant was done!!
At 11:10 they gave Don another medicine for nausea – I was starting to wonder if the anti-nausea medicine was actually making him sick as he got sick again L. Of course I know it wasn’t the medicine but it sure seemed like it at the time.
After the transplant Don’s temp was taken – it was higher than they liked so we had to wait until it went down some. At 2:05 our Nurse called Kelly and she said to keep Don there another hour. So it was around 3:10 when they released him to go back to the apartment.
The challenge right now is to get Don to eat a bit more than he has been – he just has no appetite but this is to be expected. I told him you don’t have to eat a lot of any 1 thing – just little bites during the day just to get his energy up. I do nag him about it –oh wait me nag?? Haha YOU BET!! I’ll do what it takes until he gives in just to shut me up!! haha
Don’s resting now and has been for awhile – tomorrow I will I’m sure nag (oh wait that just doesn’t sound nice does it? Okay I will STRONGLY SUGGEST ) he eat more and I will get him walking more. I didn’t push it this evening when we got back because I know he is totally exhausted after such a long day. Back to JH at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow.
Keep the prayers coming our way everyone!
Until tomorrow…………
Love you all!
Don & Muffin
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