Stem Cell Transplant,Seattle Washington Trip October 2012

Puzzle fun

                                                    Her birthday   We travelled three days by car to Seattle, Washington . My youngest Sister who is 61 needed care givers, when she had another stem cell transplant, for her Multiple Myeloma which came back, since her last stem cell transplant 12 years ago. We went and had a wonderful lunch a top the Space Needle.       I went with her to the SCCA Clinic every day for her clinical appointments. There was a lot of preparation to do before she had this transplant done. They gave her a large dose of Chemo to kill all the cancer cells.Then they harvested the 4890 million stem cells.They put her blood into a spinner machine which separates the stem cells from the other blood cells.
     Then they did a lot of testing, lab work, to Dental work, Cat scans, MRI's. Brain scans, because she had a stroke from some Chemo medication. We left to care for my Sister in law in Portland, Oregon, for two weeks we took her to her Dr. appts. She had very high blood pressure and had several silent strokes. Her sight was very bad and she had a problem seeing very well.
      After two weeks of testing. My sister was ready for her transplant. They gave her back all her stem cells they had removed and frozen for two weeks through her IV port. They gave her medication to counteract her getting shingles from her low immune system. On the 5th day after her transplant she went into the hospital for critical care.She was dehydrated and needed more Professional care. Her temp went up to 104 for 4 days in a row. She was semi conscious for that week. Then the Doctors gave her Tylenol, and more antibiotics to get her temp to come down. After being in ICU for a week she started improving slowly. She had severe edema in her legs and hands from being immobile for a week. She was getting fed by IV and blood was infusing slowly. Her digestion system was raw from the Chemo, and she was bleeding out the bowel. The Mucitis improved in her throat so she could swallow and talk. Dennis and Marianne came to visit her, she could hardly talk, her voice was very deep and hoarse. Dennis challenged her to sing a song for him. I nearly died she can't even speak, so how can she sing. Well she paused for a moment and sang two lines of " I know my Redeemer lives."  I couldn't believe this miracle I had just witnessed. Dennis and Marianne were in awe too. Her Daughter Kali stayed with her after we left for Arizona to care for her. Then her Husband took good care of her until Jay and Dana came for the month of January.


Stem Cell Transplant smelling an orange peel to keep the garlic smell down.

        We left Seattle it had been a rainy season for us to deal with. We left December 11, arrived home safely, December 13. Wanted to get home for my oldest son birthday he was turning 50. We had been gone for six weeks and Tina had watched our home.