Without further ado or fanfare, the cells arrived as expected and were transfused by 6pm last night. Eric passed the time playing video games and having dinner.
Now we watch carefully and wait. Wait for Eric's old cells to die out (white counts and platelets are dropping daily) and then wait for the new marrow to begin to produce cells. This timeframe is one of the key risk points and all will carefully monitor blood counts, temperature, overall wellbeing, etc. Part of the reason that Eric will remain outpatient as long as possible is to reduce exposure to the serious germs in hospitals. Surprisingly, his doctors are far more concerned about the normal bateria in his body and the hospital environment than anything he will run into at home or outside. Of course, if you are sick -- have a cough, sore throat, cold -- STAY AWAY!!
1 comment:
Kathy........I remember this period so vividly - the waiting - waiting for counts to hit the big '0' and then waiting for engraftment......just waiting for it all to have passed smoothly.
With you, in spirit, daily and willing those new beautiful donor cells to do their 'thing' efficiently and completely.......Vx
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