The time for John's transplant has finally arrived. We got the call Monday that we should be at the Transplant Center on Thursday (Jan. 19) or Friday (Jan. 20). So we will be driving down on Wednesday or Thursday (one day early) to settle in at Hope House where I will be staying while John is in the hospital. Tomorrow we will get the call telling us which day we should come down.
The first day that John enters the hospital, he will have a chest port put in. A chest port is a tube that goes into a vein in your chest. From the chest port, he will receive fluids, any blood transfusions if he needs them, and the transplant will be given through the chest port. Also, any blood that needs to be drawn will be done through the chest port. The purpose of this is so that John will not have to be repeatedly stuck again and again, he will just have the line inserted and kept in, probably for several months.
The day after he has the chest port put in, he will have chemo. He will probably have chemo four days in a row. Then the next day he will have the transplant. Bone marrow cells from the donor's body will be put into his body through the chest port. They told him that somehow the cells know where to go!
He will then be moved to the Transplant floor where he will begin his recovery.
After he is released from the hospital, he will stay with me at Hope House. He will report to the hospital daily, and eventually every other day, for four to five weeks.
It is a wonderful hospital, and I have complete faith in the medical staff there. I know this is going to be a hard road for John, but I believe he is going to make it. Please keep him in your prayers.
This is the last entry I am going to write in this journal for a little while, because I am keeping my other journal up to date, my private one - John's Journey With MDS. If you are not already a reader of that journal, but would like to be, put a comment in the comments section , and I will add you.
Take care you all, Krissy :)
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