Counting Up

Day zero...

The tale of two stories becoming one dear readers.  Today was an interesting day, a day unlike any other for sweet Sarah and brave Elaine.  The day would start out with both sister's doing completely different things, but working towards one common goal.

Elaine was up and at it before Sarah was today, she was at the hospital at 7:00.  The first thing Elaine had to do was get her CVC line installed.  Once it was installed they brought her to her bed and began the process of collecting her stem cells.  She had a line going out of her which went through a machine, took the stem cells out and then returned the rest of her blood back into her.  The machine works by spinning the blood and this somehow forces only the stem cells to the outer part of the spinny thing.  The process is closely monitored with a nurse beside her the entire time, tests of the stem cells were also performed very regularly.  Elaine was hooked up to this machine all day, passing her time with movies and bejeweled.  Elaine's work was done at about 4:30, all the stem cells went down to the lab, and Elaine's CVC line was removed and bandaged up.  

Sarah's day started out a little different than any other day since she has been here.  At 8 she hopped in a wheelchair and went down to the basement of the hospital.  Here she was get a TBI, total body irradiation.  I have posted pictures to help you see what Sarah had to do.  She popped an Ativan and then  laid on the bed and was stuffed with bags of gel, after about ten or fifteen minutes this was completed and she was wheeled into the radiation room.  We said our goodbyes and the huge door shut behind me.  I went and sat down in the control room and watched Sarah lay there on the monitors.  They had the radio playing in that room and at one point I saw Sarah singing away.  After about seven minutes they went in and spun her around so they could do the other side.  Seven minutes after that she was wheeled out and they started to remove all of the gel packs.  Sarah was happy to have them taken off, she said they were heavy and made it hard for her to breath.  We made our way back up to the room where she was hooked up to her IV pole once again and the fluid started flowing.  They gave her all of the premeds for her ATG treatment, and then started the ATG for the last time.  The ATG was almost done but the second radiation treatment was scheduled.  So she was was disconnected, put in a wheelchair and brought down for another radiation treatment.  I was told the radiation is to kill all the cancer cells that may have been missed by the chemotherapy.  It was seven minutes per side again and we were on our way back to the room.  When we got back to our room Sarah and I walked to go visit Elaine.  It was really neat for me to see them together before the transplant, and kind of weird to see Sarah visiting Elaine in a hospital bed.  We stayed for a few minutes and then headed back up to our room to continue the ATG.  It ran for 13 minutes and then she received some antibiotics, anti-nausea and some other stuff that I cant keep track of, despite trying.  

Elaine and Dale, Dad and Margaret and myself were in Sarah's room when they started bringing in a computer and a cart.  This meant it was almost time for the stem cells to go in.  We posed for a few pictures, one of them a Vriend family tradition, and then things got underway.  The nurse hung the bag of stem cells, programmed the IV machine and Elaine's stem cells slowly made their way into Sarah's body.  37 minutes later it was done, Elaine worked all day to get those out.  Everybody from the beginning told us this would be fairly anticlimactic, and they were right.  Nothing really happened, but it felt really good for me to watch this happen.  Knowing that it is the beginning of recovery made it very exciting.  We said a few jokes about Sarah turning into Elaine, asking her if she was craving ice cream or if she felt attracted to Dale.  I don't think Sarah or Elaine thought this was too funny, but the men had a chuckle.  Once the stem cells went in Sarah was pretty exhausted.  I think it was about this time that she started to feel the effects of the ATG as well.  It was a busy day and Sarah just wanted to lay in peace and quiet. Day zero is over, from this point forward we count up.  

K

 Laying on the radiation bed.

 They started packing by her legs working their way up.

 All Packed in.  They had a probe tucked into the headband.

This is the radiation room, the machine is on the left.

 I got to watch the procedure on two big screen hi def monitors.

 Elaine lying in her bed.  That is the machine behind her, lots of tubes and spinny things

This is Elaine's CVC line, you can see one line going in and one going out...  Don't ask me which is which though.

Elaine and Sarah, at Elaine's Bed  

 Elaine and Sarah at Sarah's bed, stem cells in hand.

 This is what Elaine worked a whole week to make.

 YAAAAY 

 (this is the Vriend family tradition picture)

 They are going in.

Good to the last drop.