Day -1

Mina Brigitta had a fine day today. She was again a bit cranky and disoriented after coming back from radiation therapy, but otherwise ate, played and did just fine. When I got back to the hospital, she had her shoes on and was walking around the room. She got her lines totally twisted around; Amber had to unhook her and untwist everything to keep the IV pole from beeping constantly. The nurses say it takes a week or so for the kids to feel the full effects from the radiation therapy, so we have that to look forward to.

Big day tomorrow. The transplant will occur around 8:30 AM. The donor cells are most likely already here in the hospital; they just require some processing from the lab first thing in the morning. She was premedicated today with cyclosporin, an anti-rejection drug. She'll be on that continually for several months or longer, depending on how things go. Tomorrow morning they'll give her some more drugs to prevent an allergic-type reaction, then they'll hang the bag of cells and infuse them into her bloodstream through her IV. The whole thing should take about half an hour. There will be a whole team in here to observe, and they'll take her vital signs every five minutes during the infusion. She'll also wear a monitor for six hours afterwards. The cells will find their own way into her bone marrow, and hopefully will start producing blood within 3-4 weeks.

From Mina Brigitta's perspective, tomorrow will be just another day in the life. She'll get to eat breakfast first thing and won't have to be sedated, so she'll probably feel pretty good. But she won't be leaving the room anymore, so she'll probably be antsy. We'll try to make the most of these days when she's feeling good, because they probably won't last much longer with her counts plummeting.

That surreal feeling I had while at home is still with me. The whole thing is just so overwhelming to me, much more so than the chemotherapy treatments. I've been pretty tired because of late nights, and today at work I drifted off for a few minutes while staring at my computer screen. But I woke up with a start, thinking "My daughter is having a bone marrow transplant tomorrow!" I was wide awake the rest of the day.

On a more practical note, Mina Brigitta is going to be in constant need of blood and platelet transfusions over the next several weeks. There is a national platelet shortage, so we're asking people to consider making a "directed donation" of platelets for Mina Brigitta at UCSF. I've set up a web page with information about donating and a schedule of other directed donors. However, please feel free to donate at your convenience, as we can't predict exactly when she'll need a donation. And if Mina Brigitta doesn't happen to need your donated cells, they may help save the life of another person.