Time to get those stem cells back!

Randy had lots of visitors this morning - occupational therapist, nurses with new meds, new doctor, lunch staff, all the levels of medical personal associated with his care coming in to say hi and ask how he's doing 

When it was time to start the stem cell IV, nurse Brittany asked if we wanted to start with prayer - yes we did! We love Brittany!

She hooked him up and started giving him his stem cells back. His final total of self-donated cells was 3,500,000. Less than what we thought but more than enough. Just like when they were collected, they returned as a soft pink color.

They had divided the cells onto 4 bags before freezing. They need to freeze them to keep them this long, but the cells are only viable for 30 minutes after they thaw. That's not long enough for a big bag to process, so they use 4 smaller bags. At the end of each bag they switch to a clear liquid to flush the line and get every cell possible. At this stage we could see the little cells and clumps of cells as they moved through the IV line.

Afterwards one one the chaplains came by to pray with us - we appreciate this so much.

The day you get a bone marrow transplant is considered your new "birthday".

And the wonderful staff celebrates it with lots of presents and cheers!