Saturday, April 26, 2008

Transplant Completed!


Hi Everyone.

James received his stem cell transplant early this morning, April 26th. The process was basically a blood transfusion except that rather than regular red blood cells it was rich with stem cells. The transplant began at 12:45am and took almost 5 hours. James experienced a few side effects, about 2 hours of intense chills and fever towards the end of the process. However, soon after he finished receiving the cells these went away.

Crystal and Kyle were here for the first part of the transplant and we had a nice celebration. As his doctor and nurses pointed out, April 26th is now James’ second birthday. James ate some Hostess cakes and we all had a toast with sparkling cider once the transplant began.

So far, James is doing well. He hasn't slept much for the past 2-3 nights so he is groggy and tired. His blood counts are continuing to drop, and should bottom out in the next few days so we are expecting that his energy will steadily go down during this time. The side effects from the chemotherapy are beginning to rear their ugly head as well so we know we are soon entering the most difficult phase of the transplant.

Despite all of this, spirits are high. We know things will go well and that James will come out of this strong and healthy.

Thanks everyone for your encouraging notes on the blog. Each time we log on there are new things for James to read.

Take care of yourselves.

Love,
Stacey

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

James and Stacey,
Terrific news. I'm so happy for you. BTW, do you realize nearly every post has some kind of cake in it? This is like a pastry blog that dabbles in medicine. ---Bill McDonald

Unknown said...

James and Stacey,

Our thoughts are with you. We are thinking about you all the time and send our love to you all.

Wish we could be there to help you during this time.

Love,

Justyn and the crew!

Anonymous said...

This is GREAT news, but I am a little concerned about the potential side effects, I'm still having trouble picturing my buddy with a 36C chest and a new found fondness for watching "The View". Seriously, I believe the worst is in the past and that James will continue to grow stronger with each passing day. Love ya Bro, that's from the heart.

Troy Wagner

Anonymous said...

Is the fact that Hostess stock rose after news of James' successfull procedure a coincidence? I think not...

Troy

Anonymous said...

So glad to hear things are moving along well! I might have to find some Hostess cakes and sparkling cider to toast you all with ... James' week b-day is right around the corner! We love you guys!!

beth said...

We are soooo happy to hear things are progressing well! It is so heartening to be able to read about what is going on in your lives. We think about you often. Here's something lame about me: I had bookmarked Jame's birthday page, and I thought that I was bookmarking the main page, so each time that I had checked back, I kept getting the birthday page and was wondering what was going on. Hahahaha! And today, I saw the links on the side for April. Oh. I'm a smart one. So, I'm soooo happy to read about the transplant, and I can't wait to hear how all is going better than expected! We love you ALL!
beth and mike and shaun