DAY ZERO: Out with the Bad Cells, In with the Good

The donor stem cell's, now Susan's (top)
Susan and Nurse Karen doing nothing (left)

The deed is done. The infusion began at approximately 10:15 today and was finished about an hour and a half later - turned out to be briefer than expected. And yes, for the major inflection point in Susan's disease, it was an underwhelming event. Nurse Karen simply hooked up the bag with the stem cells (the red bag in the picture above) and that was it. No drumrolls, no fireworks display, just a steady drip like any other coming from a bag through an IV line. If Susan did not know it was happening, she wouldn't have been able to tell.

Susan's team of 5 doctors came it at one point during the procedure, nodded sagely, clucked a bit, squabbled mildly and made up (just to show they were on the job), and then left without doing anything or offering any useful information or advice. Dr. Soifer (Susan's lead transplant specialist) stopped in a bit later to say hello and said everything was looking good.

Susan has no appetite but Nurse Karen says that's par for the course. I'll continue to nag her about her applesauce and fluids. Otherwise, she definitely looks better than she did yesterday and feels somewhat better - if she were eating and drinking, she'd feel better still, but that's a fine balancing act between nutrition and nausea.

Susan's room is a little like Grand Central - people are constantly popping in and out. In just the past hour we've had Nurse Karen bearing ice chips, Carol the Patient Care Coordinator with documents to sign, and Tammy the Social Worker for no discernible reason, but she was very sweet and she did leave her card.

And finally, Susan says "Hi. I'm glad it's over, but the real part is just starting." Couldn't coax more of a statement from her for the record at this point, but she says she may have more to say later, so stay tuned.