Deepika's Diary
27 APRIL 2000
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THE BIG DAY
Today is the big day, the day of the transplant.
The night was looooonnnnggggg. I was having a blood transfusion through the night so the nurse had to check my temperature and blood pressure regularly. The transfusion went of smoothly.
At 7:30 am I had my TBI done and that went off smoothly. I was just so tired from the lack of sleep. I slept most of the morning.
Today was the final day for ATG and it went well, I had no reactions.
I manage to eat and drink ok today. I even had a chocolate.
The afternoon went quickly and at 5:30pm I had my last TBI. I am so happy no more radiation and chemotherapy ever.
At 6:30 pm Laura the BMT nurse brought the two bags of stems cells to the room. She plugged my IV on and put the first bag up. My moms (SA & Canada) and I said a prayer while the stems cells infused. The first bag took about 15 minutes and only contained 50ml of cells. The second bag took about the same amount of time. That was the transplant plain and simple, no surgery, no operating theatre and no anesthetic.
Here's how it works. The stem cells which was taken out of Anita was sent to the labs to be cleaned and purified. The end product is a bag of clear liquid simliar to a bag of saline. These stem cells are then given to me through my hickman line, by the way this is a line that was surgically insterted into a vein in my chest in December and it is used to administer the chemo and do blood work. Similar to having an IV on the arm. The stem cells will go to work and start producing healthy white cells, red cells and platlets within two to three weeks.
I felt like a new person after the transplant, and a major weight has been lifted. I am overjoyed and I feel great.
I think my four parents were the most overjoyed. This has been a great day.