Day 0 :: Transplant Day!

Ready for a fight!

It's hard to convey to a four-year-old who is about to have a cord blood transplant the magnitude, the gravity of the experience they are undertaking. We speak about new cells and bad cells, good guy cells that fight bad guy cells. But that this is life saving, that it is super important, that almost everything else she does in life will pale in comparison? How do you do that? You treat it like a birthday, because almost nothing matters more to a four-year-old.  So, that's exactly what we did. After the pre-transplant fluids were hung, allergy medication ordered, and emergency bedside medications delivered, we turned up the music and celebrated.  Celebrated no more chemo, celebrated new life.

Let's Get This Party Started

This is what 65ml of life-saving
stem cells look like.

Jade couldn't wait for the Child Life Specialist to bring the party to her.  At noon, she insisted that we crank up the music. If you know Jade, you know Kidz Bop was in heavy rotation. She proceeded to dance for an hour straight, grabbing our hands and pulling us to the dance floor one by one. The Child Life Specialist arrived with friends in tow, a celebratory banner, and even more dance moves. We even had cupcakes, albeit pre-packaged Little Bites since bakery items are not part of Jade's low-bacteria diet.

At about 1:30, the Tylenol, Benadryl, and Hydrocortisone were brought in to help prevent a reaction during the transplant. Jade settled down, seemingly all danced out, and tuned in to her obligatory Thursday Hospital Bingo. Halfway through the Bingo game she climbed up into my lap and dozed off.

The Transplant

Wonder Jade and mom...
knocked out!

Unlike many other transplants, cord blood and bone marrow transplants are much like the blood and platelet transfusions that Jade has had over the years.  Anesthesia is not involved; it takes place right in the patient room; and the patient can be awake, alert, and even mobile if they wanted. At approximately 2:30pm, the nurses ceremoniously entered the room with a bag of donor cord blood, hung it from her IV pole, hooked Jade -- who was still slumbering safe and snug in my arms -- up to the cardiac monitor, pulse oximeter, and blood pressure cuff, and began the drip.

The hospital chaplain stopped by and lead us in a family prayer... I then dozed off with Jade.  (Auntie Shameika and Grandma kept their eyes open though to ensure everything went according to plan.) One hour later, the transplant was complete and thankfully uneventful. No fever, no spikes in blood pressure, heart rate, etc. Jade slept for about another hour, waking to say, "I'm ready to get this party started."

The "Honey Moon"

Ready to party... again!

With the exception of nausea, Jade has been doing extraordinarily well in terms of her energy, playfulness, appetite, and attitude. (You've seen the pics!) From everything that we've read and from what the team says, however, she will "crash" pretty soon and start feeling the effects of the shock that her system has gone through. We will be watching for signs of mouth and throat pain, nausea and vomiting, lung inflammation, fever, and infections caused by bacteria, fungi, and viruses while praying that the new cells truly find a home in Jade's body and that these side effects impact Jade minimally or not at all.

Thank you all for your support, for truly being super friends, and for continuing to keep Jade, her cure, and her recovery in your prayers.