Post Transplant Days Now

Today is Day One.

The stem cells were delivered to the room around 10:30 last night and were being infused by 10:45. It took until just after 2 in the morning until they were all in.

The stem cells are infused through one of the IV lines hanging out of my chest. Last week they put in the central venous catheter in my right chest near my arm. The CVC has 3 lumens, or separate connections, so that 3 different things can be infused at the same time. The CVC is covered by a bandage which has to be kept dry, a trick in in its own right while trying to bathe.

During the stem cell infusion my blood pressure went way up and I had the "heavy chest" symptom as well. It felt like someone put a concrete block on my chest. So they had to slow the rate of infusion to keep the heart problems under control.

Then they gave me a diuretic to flush the extra fluid out so that it didn't try to collect in the lungs. So that made me go to the bathroom very frequently until about 4. Finally I got a couple of hours of sleep.

This morning I felt great and got up and did a couple of laps around the floor and then had breakfast of bacon and eggs. The rest of the day I've spent napping, walking around the floor , and watching football on tv. Can't wait for the Tech game tonight.