Transplant Update

Chris was admitted to Barnes on Sat., Sept. 16th. He received chemo Sat. & Sun., and came through with flying colors. Mon. he received one radiation treatment which REALLY knocked him for a loop. About 2 hours after the radiation, he was as tired as I've ever seen him from any chemo. He did really well though. Yesterday (Tues. Sept. 19th) he received Danny's stem cells. First of all, we would like to send lots of love to Danny for going through this whole process, bone pain, headaches, sleeplessness and, of course, missing Daniel and Rachel. He was a smashing donor. The lab needed 2.5 million stems cells from him and he ended up donating 6 million. Chris got all the extra, they say it's icing on the cake. The transplant itself was a bit anti-climactic. After striving to get to the point where he was actually eligible for the transplant, agonizing about whether he wanted one, deciding he did, then having it denied by GHP (Group Health Plan- or as they're known in the medical field "God Help the People), the procedure took about 20 minutes. His nurse came in the room with what looked like a unit of blood (although thinner in consistency), hooked the bag to his port and 20 minutes later-it was finished. He had no allergic reaction since Danny and Chris are a 100% match AND the same blood type. Now the waiting begins. His white count should come up in 7 to 10 days-this would indicate that the stems cells found their way into his bones and are engrafting. He is able to have visitors and phone calls. Please continue to keep him in your prayers. He is such a wonderfully strong man, he's my hero.

Thank you Danny-we love you.

Terri

Transplant News GHP style

The transplant scheduled for Tuesday has been pushed back to admission on Saturday thanks to the insurance company's refusal to accept the doctor's protocol. He has had to resubmit a different protocol that includes only one chemo but also a full body irradiation. This means I get my port on Friday and am admitted on Saturday. We have already contacted the news media about GHP making us jump through hoops just so they will approve the transplant. I am still scheduled to receive the stem-cells on the 19th as only the date of admission and the initial protocol have changed.