In recovery . . .

Bone marrow is really really red!!! There is is folks -- my marrow dripping into my mom:)


Ahh, I am back among the land of the living. So the whole experience was really not that fun. And I really hate to say it, but before all of this happened I was shocked that anyone would not be willing to do this procedure for someone else. Well . . . I am not so sure I would do this for just anyone. For a family member - surely, but someone I didn't know, ummmm . . . I don't know about that.
I don't know if any of you follow my sister's blog, but if you don't you should check it out because she has a completely different point of view on the experience that I do. You can link to her blog from on the side of mine.
The day of surgery, I headed into the pre-op around 5:30 to get changed, do paperwork, get an IV, and talk to the anthologist. I currently had hives all over because I was so stressed about this procedure. When I finally got to speak to the anesthesiologist, my first question was - "So, do you know what you are doing?" Now, by this I meant are you planning on an epidural or general anesthesia - because I was going to quickly imply that general was the ONLY way to go for me. Dr. Lee quickly responded with the fact that he surely knew what he was doing because he had looked it up on the Internet the night before and he was planning on using general because that video was clearer. He was quite funny. I let him know that I had hives so that they did not think that I was experiencing an allergic reaction to anything - he ever so nicely gave me a shot of a little something that calmed me right down:)
I was finally wheeled into the OR where I vaguely remember meeting the doctor - I think I did - but that may have been a dream and the next thing I knew I was waking up in the recovery room. My blood pressure was LOW LOW LOW! They said that in the process of getting 1 liter of bone marrow, 3 liters of blood came out. Now as you remember I was only able to give 1/2 of a unit of blood during the donation, so when my pressure dropped to 60/40, they grabbed my measly 500 cc's and hooked me up. Slowly, my pressure cam up to 90/60 as I felt better. During this time, I had to use a bed pan twice which is something I never want to experience again.
Once I started feeling better, I got to actually start going to the bathroom - which was when the problems started. I could not get up and move around without throwing up. They tried like 4 different types of nausea medicine and nothing was working. Every time I moved, I threw up! So, this went on from 10:30 am (when I was moved to recovery), until 8:30 pm!!!!! At that point I wanted to LEAVE! I could actually see our hotel room from my bed in the hospital and my mom had already received my bone marrow and was in the hotel. So - I fought through one more trip to the bathroom to prove I was fine and then was discharged. As soon as I got to the hotel, I headed straight back to the bathroom to throw up again. So here is my mom, hanging out, feeling good after the transplant.Here is me right after arriving home.
The rest of the evening was very vague memories. I do have to say that I do remember my nurse like being an angel. The whole day I was in and out of awareness and every time I woke up I would see my nurse's face. Her name was Becky, so I have decided I have an angel Becky is all areas of my life ( home life, hospital life, and school life).This is the following morning.



So, by day 3, I am feeling a lot better. Still feeling like I have been kicked multiple times in the butt by a horse and the bruising is pretty grosso!!! But the nausea is gone so I am happy with that! I absolutely refused to take the oxycodone that was prescribed and I am just sticking with Tylenol to handle the pain. We are still here in Baltimore since my mom is going to and from the hospital daily. And . . . another note of interest, my mom did get the riggers after my bone marrow started going into her. My blood type is B and hers is O so she got the riggers (which is like uncontrollable shaking) during the transplant process and she had to be knocked out.

Here is the aftermath - which gave me a big butt look. Although you can't really tell in this pic . . .





This picture is really gross - but pretty cool. Do you see the holes? I had EIGHT of these in my skin. Ugh -- kind of makes me sick looking at it but it is part of the documentation needed!

So - every time the bandages are changed I still feel quite sick. I almost passed out this morning when we were attempting to get me into the shower - but day by day it is getting better. We are staying down here until Wed morning and then we will head back to PA for my mom to stay in seclusion in her bedroom. The nurse said that I should not do heavy exercise for 2 weeks which puts a big damper on my half marathon training - but so is life I guess.
Thanks to all of you who were praying -- but keep praying, I may be out of the woods - but mom is not. She is just beginning this battle.