I woke up this morning, the 7th of August, my moms birthday was the day before. It was very early as the buzz of nurses and doctors was all over my room. Today was the day. More bloodwork, more meds, more examination and more anxiety. Well, as much as I could muster. My brother Glenn had arrived and was being prepared to enter the OR and begin the process of extracting his bone marrow through the aspiration process. Multiple aspirations. He would be fortunate to be anesthetized for the duration and recieve pain meds throughout the duration of his overnight stay. My parents and Glenn’s wife Rachel were in the surgical waiting area while Lori waited with me in my bubble.
It would take a few hours to harvest the marrow and then prepare it for its delivery to my body. I really had no idea about the process or the procedure but I know that I needed it asap! Around 12 noon the transplant team arrived with a small cooler and said that it was time to go. When they opened the cooler I was more than surprised. Two small plastic IV bags of thick pink and gooey looking solution. This was Glenn’s marrow. They hooked the bags up to the IV tree and placed the rubber tubes from the bags into my Hickman Catheter and released the flood. The procedure was simply to introduce the marrow into my bloodstream and from there let the marrow find its way into my bones. That’s how it works. Pretty simple and straightforward. Little did I know that it really wasn’t that simple. I was given Benadryl for any adverse allergic reaction that might occur, antibiotics to stem any infection that may try to infiltrate my system and more pain meds to take the edge off. I heard from Dr Dave, who performed the aspirations on my brother, that he did great and was recuperating in his room. He would be sore for a while. My parents joined Lori in my room. All protective gear necessary to enter the room had to be worn. Any infection at that point would kill me. I drifted off to sleep as my family discussed the days events. I was weak and vulnerable. I needed to rest, to heal and to let the marrow do its job. The next two days would either make it or break it for me. A 50/50 shot at life. No pressure at all. I got this. Can’t wait to see my first scoreboard in the morning. Got to see some numbers. No Zeros!! Thanks Glenn…Love you.