Post-Transplant Update

Nathan's bone marrow transplant was yesterday. It was an exhaustingly full day for all of us. Camryn had her marrow harvested at noon and she was so brave and very peaceful but for a few tough moments. We are all incredibly proud of her. She was woozy waking up from anesthesia and a bit sore as well so it took her a while to get back on her feet again. They got back to Nathan's room just moments before her cells began going into Nathan's picc line at 5pm. And of course, by this time, he was crabby and exhausted. I think the events of the day, anxiety, tiredness, hunger, elevated blood pressure and low hemoglobin took their toll on him. It felt like the perfect storm of crabby moods and overwhelm for all of us. Suffice it to say that it wasn't the picturesque rainbows and unicorns sibling transplant that one may envision (albeit unrealistically) but it is done and the cells are in him and both kids are doing great today. And that's what matters most.

Now we get to move forward. We have a good week of waiting for any delayed chemo effects such as mucositis (not very likely) and hair loss (all but inevitable), then another couple weeks waiting and hoping for signs of bone marrow growth. And then the other complications like graft vs. host disease may begin to rear their ugly head. In the meantime, he will continue on whatever medications and transfusions he needs to manage his symptoms and keep him as strong as possible through this. He surprises me with his strength and resilience and his great spirits. Even in his crabbiest moods, which are very rare, he is able to snap out of it and find his own balance remarkably well. He hasn't been home in over three months and I think we are all managing amazingly well considering how intense each day is. We just need to hold on a bit longer and imagine those beautiful stem cells finding their home and growing a perfectly functioning new "blood factory" for Nathan so we can finally begin to plan our journey back home.