Transplant day

The day before the transplant I couldn't sleep a wink I was so nervous about the procedure I ended up taking a Xanax, which is something I never do. Thankfully the atmosphere in the treatment room where I’d get my transplant was very light and not uptight at all.

Once I was settled into the room, my vitals were taken and I was connected to a heart monitor. In my civilian job I read EKGs for a living so I asked to see a printout of my heart rhythm, which the nurses gladly obliged. The next thing I know, the transplant coordinator is wheeling in this cart with a warm water bath for thawing my stem cells.

After a quick confirmation that the cells in the bag belong to me, the bags were hung on the IV pole and spiked. Slowly at first then increasing in speed, the stem cells flowed down the IV tubing into my hickman catheter. This was it. I was getting the transplant.

My transplant included three bags of stem cells that took about 15 mins each bag to infuse. Before I knew it, the transplant was over. The transplant team came in and sang me a re-birthday song and gave me my birthday cake

(The pic was taken later back in my room) and that was it. I was done. NOW, I just need to survive the next 10-15 days.