Stem Cell Transplant

The high dose chemo had clearly taken its toll on Abdullah. He had lost his skin coloration, looked like a bruised kid with dark patches all over his body. I would say he looked similar to how he looked after his 1st chemo. He seemed neutropenic today, he probably was as his wbc count was 0.8 today. He was sneezing pretty often.

His schedule for the day a laid out clearly by his nurse in the morning.
11 am; He was given a bath with some special chemicals to disinfect his body completely. He was then taken to a new clean air flow isolation room with an even greater pressure, room # 11 in unit 8B.
2 pm; He received just 40cc of his own tem cells in a transfusion that just lasted 20 mins. The procedure was simple enough, nothing very complex contrary to the general perception.

I guess stem cell transplants from ones own stem cells are simpler to carry out than bone marrow transplants from 3rd party donors. We did receive may phone calls asking whether the procedure went fine. Its not the procedure which causes the complexity, but its the super depressed immnue system, the extended neurtopenia due to the almost dead bone marrow (because of the high dose chemo) which causes the complexity. The below link gives more info on the stem cell transplant at the bone marrow unit; http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/bmsct/bmsct_all.html

Abdullah wasn't talking to me , as he was pretty down because of the stong side effects of the high dose chemo. Infact he was recalling the mucusitus he had in the 1st round as he was probably experiencing the onset of the mucusitus this time round again. Mucusitus is a pretty horrible condition with no treatment. Sores in the lining of the mouth, throat, gut through to the anus. He couldn't even take in his own saliva and was drooling for period until neutrophils returned the 1st time around. We are expecting something similar this time around.

A more alaraming thing that happened post transplant was a new side effect from the transplant. High blood pressure and heart rate. He was give an oral medication which instantly reduced the blood pressure at 4 pm. Seemed to work pretty well. I was pretty content. I left for home early today @ 7pm as there was just 1 chair (used by asma) in the isolation room, and I wasnt allowed to sit on my sons bed. I also had to wear a new sanitized medical gown and mask while in the room, everytime I entered. I reached home @ 8pm and found out that Abdullahs high blood pressure and heart rate had returned. The docs and nurses were having a tough time bringing it down. They finally decided to give him lassex to reduce the blood pressure by lowering the fluid levels in his body.

I am mentally exhausted and would be going to bed early tonight.