15 September 2009

Today was transplant day (T-day). Stephanie and I came out to Westmead so we could all be together, as this is a big milestone day for Jeremy.


There was a nice morning session with the play therapist. Both Stephanie and Jeremy played with some green slime/goop and small plastic toys that drowned in the special slime. After making a bit of a mess, the kids were given a special balloon each, and some play doh to entertain them for the rest of the day. They were given 3 colours - green, purple and lilac. Thus far, they have resisted mixing it into one big brown mess.


The transplant itself did not occur until the afternoon - it was over pretty quickly, and relatively uneventful. There was some extra activity in the time leading up to the transplant - extra fluids and specific medication was administered. At 2.45pm, the small pack of blood (~100mls) started infusing into Jeremy via his central line, and 30 mins or so later, it was completed. Who would've thought that such a tiny amount of special umbilical cord blood could be used to save a life.


The pre-meds made Jeremy a bit irritable and tired - he ended up napping/resting on his bed for most of the afternoon. After the transfusion, he wasn't feeling that crash hot, and coughed/spewed up some blood. Thankfully we had been warned of the potential side effects - of which this was one. The other thing we noticed was a chemical smell, that was similar to creamed corn, but had a slight chemical tinge. This smell will come out of Jeremy for a little while - it is from the preservatives that were used with the cord blood.