Transplant Day

Matthew had his stem cell transplant today. The stem cells that were harvested from his body last August have been in deep freeze until now. They were delivered inside a sealed pouch (see right) inside a metal box inside a freezer canister and thawed out in a warm water bath. The pouch is then hung from an IV pole and the contents are infused into his body through an IV line. The whole process takes about 15 minutes and would seem altogether anticlimactic, if not for the fact that those cells are critically needed to replace his entire immune system. Without them, one could not recover from the chemotherapy.

Matthew is feeling really well at the moment. He had three nights of chemotherapy last Wednesday, Thursday & Friday and spent the weekend resting up. Jon stayed in Baltimore and I went home to be with Daniel. It felt a little strange to be home (first time since New Year's Day); sad to say, but at this point I think I'm more comfortable living out of a suitcase than sleeping in my own bed.

Thankfully, the pediatric oncology unit has become a much more comfortable place to stay than it was a few months ago. First off, the floor has been renovated so that all of the rooms are now private rooms. Second, they have replaced the horrid cafeteria food with a room service type program, where all of the peds onc patients can order the food of their choice off a menu at any time of day - and it gets individually prepared in a private dining room and delivered to the room. Interestingly, the docs are noticing that their patients are losing less weight and doing much better nutritionally since the new program was initiated. Funny how that works!