Jim with Fred while he was donating stem cells
Apheresis Machine; removes stem cells and returns the rest
Making sure its the right donor and the right recipient
Rachel hanging the stem cells
Stem Cells
A beautiful sight
Fred and Jim during the transplant
Fred and Donna
I am having a hard time writing about this experience. It has been such a long ride to get here, and once here, it has been almost a sacred occasion. Jim's younger brother Fred, who was his donor, came up on Sunday night. Fred had to go to the bone marrow clinic for three days and have injections of filgrastin to increase his stem cell production and to move the cells into his blood. A challenging few days for Fred--lots of pain, and feeling like he had a sever case of the flu. On Thursday they put a tri-fusion line in Fred's neck, which was also a less-than-pleasant experience. Then the apheresis began. Jim and I were there with Fred and Donna and it was a very emotional time for all of us. The clinic said that they wanted between five and ten million stem cells and over the course of two days, over eleven million were harvested from Fred.
I am having a hard time writing about this experience. It has been such a long ride to get here, and once here, it has been almost a sacred occasion. Jim's younger brother Fred, who was his donor, came up on Sunday night. Fred had to go to the bone marrow clinic for three days and have injections of filgrastin to increase his stem cell production and to move the cells into his blood. A challenging few days for Fred--lots of pain, and feeling like he had a sever case of the flu. On Thursday they put a tri-fusion line in Fred's neck, which was also a less-than-pleasant experience. Then the apheresis began. Jim and I were there with Fred and Donna and it was a very emotional time for all of us. The clinic said that they wanted between five and ten million stem cells and over the course of two days, over eleven million were harvested from Fred.
Friday morning Jim was given whole body radiation and then taken to the clinic to wait for the cells to be counted and returned to the hospital. During the time he was resting in the clinic he spiked a high fever and set lots of Docs, PAs and Nurses in motion; within an hour he was admitted to the hospital again. They gave him antibiotics, and the pre-transplant regimen of medications and by the time the stem cells arrived back at the hospital he was fever-free.
The four of us together again waited as they carefully checked the cells and set them up for infusion and began the process which only took about 45 minutes as all eleven million stem cells were given to Jim. Words cannot express the tenderness and gratitude we all feel for gift that Fred has so willingly given.
So now we wait for engraftment which happens somewhere around twenty-one days. Jim never had a fever again and none of the cultures grew anything, so we are pretty sure the fever came from the radation process. He was released from the hospital today and we are so happy to be home. We are grateful for our overabundance of blessings. We acknowledge the Lord's hand in the entire process and send heart-felt thank yous for all the prayers rendered in our behalf.
6 comments:
Love you guys!!! So grateful that everything is going well so far. Much love!
Go stem cells!! A heartfelt thanks to Fred for giving your brother new life in a way few, if any, others could have. We're all praying for those little "Freds" to take hold and turn into little "Jims". :-))
It has been a long road but we're so grateful to have traveled it with you. I can't wait to visit! I miss you dad :) Hope we get over these colds sooner than later!
Wow, the Pres. looks really good. What a miracle that this occurred, really it is. We are praying for him continually.
Love you dad - words can not express my gratitude right now. Just like Alaina, we can't wait to visit when were all healthy!
What an experience and a ride. So grateful for Fred. Love you both dearly!
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