Day 0

Today was Day 0! I got my transplant! It was a bit anti-climactic - all of this fuss and drama and waiting and worrying and it was just a bag of red blood product. It took about 3 hours to infuse, and that was that. My nurse Manju (she's my "primary nurse" and she's awesome) watched over me, and I got a bit itchy at one point so they pushed some Benadryl, but otherwise the whole thing was uneventful. I don't feel any different - a little bit tired, but not different. It's a weird thought to think there's someone else's blood coursing through my veins right now. Hopefully that blood is as stubborn as I am and knocks out the rest of my leukemia and takes over like it's supposed to, then this whole drama can END. In any case, here are some photos from today!

Here's the marrow, chillin' on my bedside table. They just plopped it down and went to get some supplies - it was weird to see it sitting there like that.

Here's my nurse Manju with the marrow right before she hung it on R2:

Here's Gus with the marrow:

And here's the marrow hanging on R2 - Manju made a little sling for the bag so it would hang nicely:

Julia came to visit today! She brought me goodies and we had lunch and hung out. And here's her, in this really hot outfit she's been telling me about. It's all the rage for this summer - pink mask, paper smock, and hot purple gloves. She's a fashion pioneer. That's Gus standing next to her with the Happy Birthday balloon she brought me:

And here's a video of the marrow infusing - creeping up my line and going into my chest:

We took some photos of Gus and me right before the transplant, but I look completely stoned from the Benadryl so I didn't bother to upload them. I got platelets this evening (yuck) and now I'm just hanging out - Dad just arrived and he's hanging out for a while before he goes back to family housing to do all of my laundry! Like I said before, I generate an astonishing amount of laundry. :)

That's it - it was a great day. Like I said, a bit anti-climactic, but hopefully this is my new beginning and the drama will be over within a few months. I'm not looking forward to the rest of the month or the GVHD or anything, but I guess it's a necessary evil in order for me to get cured.