T-Day

We are back at our apartment, but it isn't over!
We started the day with a blood draw. No pokes this time, they took the blood from one of the Hickman lines. Awesome!

We then headed over to UWMC (University of Wa. Medical Center) for the TBI (Total Body Irradiation). The radiation has to be done standing, though he may rest on a bicycle seat at certain intervals. The total time was maybe about 40 to 60 minutes. He was done and feeling pretty good.

We then went back to SCCA (Seattle Cancer Care Alliance) for the infusion of the stem cells that had been collected from Dennis yesterday and today. You can see them hanging in the bag above the patient :) in the pictures below. Terry is feeling pretty good here, though somewhat fatigued. Dennis says that he is feeling pretty good too.



Things were going well, we met with the doctors and nurses, and the infusion continued, but Terry began to feel terrible. He had an awful headache and was nauseated, and began to vomit. They gave him some meds, and then more, and more meds.
The infusion of stem cells was completed by 6:30, but due to his pain and nausea, we stayed longer. He was able to get some sleep and began to feel better, and his good color returned so there was hope of feeling better.



They decided that we could go. He was feeling good, but a bit groggy, so I pushed him out in a wheel chair. We got down the elevator and he was heading for the bathroom to vomit again. He came out and rested a few minutes and headed back in to the bathroom.

Dennis came to pick us up and take us back to the apartment. We are so grateful that they were here today to help us with that, and they did some grocery shopping for us, and a myriad of other good deeds.

Terry has been sleeping, except I have had to wake him up twice to take his meds, and he has one more time to take meds before the night is over. He kept the first meds down, and so far he has kept the second set of meds down, and that second set includes, but is not limited to, 5 nasty horse pills that always give him some strange and undesirable feelings. It is good to know that those nasty horse pills are for keeping the GVHD (Graft Verses Host Disease) from getting too bad.

We hope today is the hardest of all, but they did tell us that these feelings are common after TBI, and may last for about 5 days. We will follow the plan that is laid out for us, and we will come off conquerors!

By the way - T-day is Transplant Day, and today is it. It is much like a b-day, which I use in short for birthday. One nurse told us that Terry now has two birthdays. So, I guess that means his b-day and his t-day. How will we celebrate it next year, guys?