Transplant Day!!!
Day 63
Transplant Day!!!
The outpouring of love and prayers this morning has been overwhelming. Thank you for praying for her and our whole family! We’re trying to respond to each of you as we are so grateful! But it might take a little time.
Transplant is scheduled to start at 11:00 mountain time. The actual transplant is a bit anti climactic as it literally looks like a blood transfusion run over a couple hours. As Covid required the harvest early, and it’s been frozen, the cells will be thawed in a special water bath outside her room. There is a preservative in it that is apparently very stinky. Some say metal, like Pennies, others say creamed corn. We will both “taste” and smell it. Tate will breathe it out for the next couple days. We’ll let you know our interpretation. We need special prayers for this marrow. They “grow” some ahead of time to culture for all sorts of things. Tate’s donor marrow is growing a specific bacteria that can be found on the skin. They told us this does happen sometimes and they just watch extra closely for bacterial growth in the bloodstream and sepsis. We had to sign a consent to still accept the marrow, but really, there isn’t another option. We still feel great about the marrow she’s getting but ask for specific prayers against any bacterial growth in Tates body.
Last night was pretty sleepless. There was all kinds of issues with Tate’s G-tube clogging due to a chemical reaction between crushed meds. It literally created concrete. We went through several extensions and eventually it clogged in the actual button. So a resource team was called in about 4 am to replace what’s called a “Mickey button.” They don’t have a lot of G-tubes in transplant as it’s not considered standard. Finding the supplies and working with pharmacy and resource team to get it all figured out made for a busy night.
Fun fact! Tate’s nurse Trina is having a Birthday today! We Trina. Super fun that Tate gets to share her Re-Birthday with her!