A Transplant for the Cure - Day Zero

Nurse Carol was preparing the apheresis machine for the
stem cell harvest.L

Day zero began early on Tuesday, November 17. I woke up in the wee hours of the morning and my ear was hurting. I ate a few crackers and took an Extra Strength Tylenol before going back to bed.

My appointment at the apheresis department in the University of Kansas Medical Center was at 7:00am. It was a cool, rainy morning and the traffic was heavy on our way to the hospital. Lois dropped me off at the front entrance, and then took Karen over to the BMT Clinic for her appointment. I walked in the door of the apheresis department at exactly 7:00am.

A nurse named Carol greeted me led me to the room where the stem cell harvest would take place. I sat down in a dentist-style chair, and Nurse Carol immediately started checking the veins in my arms. If the veins were not sufficient, I would be required to have a line surgically placed in my neck. I was very relieved to learn that the stem cells would be taken from the veins in my arms.

The apheresis machine that filtered the stem cell from my blood.

I was anxious about this entire process. Lois came back to the hospital after she left Karen at the Bone Marrow Transplant Clinic. Nurse Carol was a real pro and made me feel completely relaxed. She placed IV needles in both my arms very quickly and with very little pain. My blood would be drawn out of the needle in my left arm, the machine would filter out the stem cells, and then the blood would be returned to me through the needle in my right arm. I had to keep my left arm completely still, but I was allowed to move my right arm a small amount. The collection began at 8:30am.

Bag of stem cells harvested from
my blood.

I learned that the apheresis harvest procedure usually takes about 4 hours. However, Karen's doctor wanted some extra stem cells to freeze for later use. I was not asked if I was willing to stay on the machine an additional hour, the doctor made that decision for me.

The collection process went smoothly. There were several times when my face and hands started tingling. Nurse Carol added more calcium to my IV when I told her about the tingling. The last hour was the most uncomfortable. I had to have Lois take my shoes off because my feet were swelling.

The apheresis machine was shut down a few minutes past 1:30pm. I was running a low grade fever and was still taking the antibiotics for my earache and sinus infection. I was told that my illness did not have an adverse effect on the stem cell collection.

The procedure was over and much easier than I imagined it would be. Nurse Carol did an outstanding job and I am so glad that Lois was with me during the entire process.

Karen received her stem cell transplant between 9:30 and 11:30pm. A message written on the white board in the room said, "Day 0 - Happy Cell Day, Karen!" The entire process was done outpatient and we all got back to Lois' house at midnight.

The transplant was complete.

A Transplant for the Cure - Tomorrow

Sign pointing to the Bone Marrow Transplant area
at the University of Kansas Medical Center

Tomorrow is Day Zero for our long-awaited stem cell transplant. The past two days have been filled with clinic visits and a little sight-seeing on the side.

I have been plagued with sinus problems since I arrived in Kansas City. A bit of stuffiness in my head turned into a painful earache, pressure in my neck, and jaw pain. At times it felt like my teeth would fall out. I have been taking two Neupogen shots a day for the past four days, and I think this has aggravated my head problems.

The nurse at the clinic told me that I could only take Extra-Strength Tylenol for the pain. After much discussion, a doctor prescribed a 14 day supply Amoxicillin. I don't know if I really have an infection, or if my ear/head ailments are side effects of the Neupogen shots. It appears they are going to take my stem cells and then send me home sick.

Tomorrow, I report to the BMT Apheresis room at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Lois will drive me to the hospital for my 7:00am appointment. The nurses will check my veins and determine if they can take the stem cells from my arms. I am hoping and praying they will be able to do this. I will then sit in a dentist-style chair for four to five hours while they take blood out of one arm and put the unused blood back in my other arm. The apheresis machine will filter out the needed stem cells.

If they can't use the veins in my arms, I will have to have a line surgically inserted into my chest. The blood will then be take from the line, filtered through the apheresis machine, and then back to me through the line in my chest. A nurse called today and said that if I have to have the line in my chest, they will keep me in the hospital for one night. They will then harvest more stem cells the next day. 

The long hallway to the Apheresis area of the hospital.

Karen's schedule tomorrow includes a visit to the BMT clinic in the morning, radiation treatment at the KU Medical Center Hospital in the afternoon and the stem cell transplant at the hospital in the evening. She will then be sent home for the night and report back to the BMT clinic on Wednesday morning. That is the plan, if all goes well.

I will be very glad when this is over and Karen has a brand new immune system to fight any remaining cancer cells in her body. Many patients consider a stem cell transplant as a type of "birthday", a fresh start.

I know that many, many of our family and friends have been praying for us and the success of the stem cell transplant. I want to thank each one of you and tell you that we know you are with us in your thoughts and prayers. The next few weeks will be critical in Karen's recovery, so please continue to keep us in your prayer.

I want to especially thank my Uplifters Life Group from First Baptist Church, Conroe, Texas. They have been supporting me in prayer every step of the way.

 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
Psalms 23; 6. 

A Transplant for the Cure - Summer, 2008

My sister Karen was always a very active person. She loved to work outside in her yard and garden. She enjoyed hiking and biking in the near-by parks.

Things began to change in the summer of 2008. She felt fatigue and noticed that the lymph glands under her arms were swollen. She also developed an annoying cough.

Karen had numerous medical tests run and eventually she was diagnosed with CLL/SLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia/ small lymphocytic lymphoma). My sister had cancer in her blood. 

Hurricane Ike hit southeast Texas in August, and our electricity was out for over a week. We loaded up the truck and went to my mother-in-law's house in Oklahoma to wait for our electricity to be restored. While we were in Oklahoma, my sister was in the hospital in St. Louis.

I decided to fly to St. Louis the next week and stay with my sister when she got home from the hospital. I arrived in St. Louis on Saturday and Karen was out of the hospital and feeling much better. On Sunday, my mother, father, Karen and I spent the afternoon at the Route 66 State Park in Eureka, Missouri. I took some pictures and later used them to make the video slideshow that I have posted below.

The next week, I went with Karen to receive a chemotherapy treatment at the hospital. This was the first time I had witnessed a treatment like this. She laid back in a reclining chair and received the chemotherapy through an IV in her arm. It seemed to be fairly easy and painless.

Karen was not going to let this affliction keep her down. She went back to work at Joyce Meyer Ministries before the end of the week and I was left at home watching TV and catching up on my reading.

I headed back to Texas thinking that she would soon be in remission and back to her old lifestyle.

She was in remission several times...but the disease kept coming back.