6 Days Until Transplant

Sorry for not posting anything for a bit.  Been pretty busy getting ready for our stay in Boston.  We came down Thursday night.  We were coming through Seabrook around 5:00 so I sent Benny a text seeing what was up.  His office is right in Seabrook.  Most of the time he is on the road, but he was in the office on Thursday and ended up going to the Applebees with us.  Worked out great.

On Friday morning, I was due to be admitted at 10:30.  There is a shuttle that leaves from the hotel every hour that goes to the hospital.  We are only about 3 miles from the hospital, so we took the 9:30 shuttle.  On the way there, we were stopped in traffic and saw the funniest thing.  This guy was parallel parking in a spot that his car would just barely fit in.  His technique was to back in until he hit the car behind him, pull forward until he hit the car in front of him, back up until he hit the car behind him, pull forward until he hit the car in front of him.  After about 10 of these maneuvers, he was parked.  Everyone on the shuttle was giggling watching this idiot trying to park. 

We got admitted and they sent us to a waiting area.  The first task at hand was to insert 2 Hickman lines into my chest.  These are lines that they will deliver my chemo, fluids, antibiotics, nutrition and draw blood from.  They go into my chest and they tunnel under the skin to my jugular.  Yes, I said tunnel under my skin and jugular!!!  I am getting sick just writing this...  They used what is called conscious sedation for the procedure.  I asked them to go extra heavy on the sedation side of things.  They must have, because I do not remember the procedure at all.  They are extremely sore right now though.  In an effort to keep me "comfortable", they have been giving me pain killers to reduce the discomfort.  Hopefully I will not need them too much longer.

After that, we were brought to my new home for the next 4 - 6 weeks.  In our section, there are seven transplant rooms.  I noticed a guy about my age in one of the rooms.  The rooms are extremely small.  There is enough room for a bed, a chair and night stand.  The nurse spent a lot of time going over proper hygiene due to how poor my immune system will be.  Whenever someone enters my room, they must were gloves and a mask.  I was also started on a myriad of drugs to prepare for transplant.  I am now taking over 20 pills a day along with several mouth rinses.

Today, I had my first round of chemo.  Tomorrow will be my second and last round.  Mon - Wed, I will be having full body radiation twice a day.  Each session will last 20 minutes.  Thursday, I have only one session of radiation.  The weeks activities culminate with the actual transplant happening on Friday.  We are not sure what time yet.