Happy Birthday to Kristine!!!
Kristine received her stem cell transplant today @ 11:10am. It was a quick procedure. First, they had to thaw the stem cells from their frozen state to about 34 degrees. Then immediately transfuse them into Kristine within 10 minutes time as the preservatives added to the stem cells prior to freezing them begin to damage the cells after about 15 minutes. However, once they're in the body, they are fine.
She had two bags of stem cells transfused into her... Over 3 million cells! She began coughing within a couple minutes then stated she was having trouble breathing. She was already suffering from nausea & vomiting right before the procedure, the transplant only made her feel worse.
It's been about 8.5 hours since the transplant took place and Kristine is feeling "weird" as she put it. She's still suffering from a little nausea but is at least starting to eat. The doctors want her to walk 15 laps a day around the transplantation ward... She was able to get in 4 laps this evening. I'm just glad she was even up to going for a walk. She made me nervous tripping over her own feet every so often. I was afraid she was going to fall. I kept telling her, "High knees, high knees!" so she would pick her feet up with each step. LOL!!!
So the next 90 days is when most BMT (bone marrow transplant) patients are at high risk of infection. It can take as long as a year, possibly longer, for a BMT patient's infection-fighting immune system to function normally. Kristine will be closely monitored for fevers and any signs of bacterial, viral and fungal infections. As well as something called GVHD (graft-versus-host disease) which is where the donor's immune cells (the graft) attack the patient's healthy tissue (the host). GVHD is a serious and sometimes fatal complication of allogenic stem cell transplantation. However, being that Kat was such a close match, it reduces the possibility and severity of GVHD in the event that it develops.
Kristine's immune system will be much like that of a newborn baby. It is going to be very important for her to exercise caution when choosing to go out in public. Friends and family members are going to need to use the same caution. No one should come around her If they have been ill, are currently ill or have a family member in their household that is ill or has recently been ill. No one can take any chances and risk giving Kristine any type of infection or illness. So please keep this in mind once she is released and goes home.
Please keep your prayer circles going strong. Kristine is not out of the woods yet! Pray that her body "accepts" the donor cells and that she is free from infection and does not encounter any complications.
Thank you!!!
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