Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Transplant Day 0

Posted by Becky

Leif got his total body radiation early this morning, but he cleverly managed to sneak in a short walk beforehand. I say he was clever, because the radiation made him feel nauseated; afterwards, all he wanted to do was nap. After previous radiation sessions, the nausea wore off after a short nap, but this time the nap didn't cut it, and he needed to take some anti-nausea pills as well, and didn't have an appetite for lunch.

One of the pre-medications they give prior to stem cell infusion is Benedryl, which makes Leif feel bad, so he didn't get a break from feeling cruddy before getting the cells. He's still feeling rather nauseated and headachey; the nurses are giving him some painkillers and more anti-nausea drugs. They got the cells started at around 2:25, right when Leif's mom called to wish him well - great timing, Rhonda!

Leif's anonymous donor continues to be awesome; they collected 14 million cells, and Leif only needs 5 million today. The remainder will be frozen in case he needs more in the future. The cells came from somewhere close enough that no preservative was necessary, which is nice; if people react to the transfusion, it is generally to the preservative and not the cells.

2 comments:

  1. Hurrah for unfrozen and unpreserved cells!! Yea for a walk! Yea Leif! Whoop! (oops, sorry for the Aggie yell for the UT guy!)

    Prue

    ReplyDelete
  2. No problem. I will take all the cheers I can get. :)

    ReplyDelete