Stem Cell Transplant Complete

After several hours of waiting, Peter got his new stem cells today around 3:30. As Kim said, it was kinda anti-climactic - they just hung 2 more bags of stuff. As it turned out, Peter needed the blood from 2 different umbilical cords. One cord was from Duke, the other from a hospital in Texas; also one was from a boy and one from a girl. So depending on which one is more dominant, Peter may be getting more in touch with his feminine side (just kidding).

There happened to be 6 of us in the room when the nurse came in with the first bag. She was very good about explaining what was going on and what meds he got before and during the process. They checked his blood pressure and blood oxygen levels every 15 minutes and adjusted his meds as needed. The whole thing only took 30 minutes. Now we continue the waiting game, waiting for some signs that these new stem cells have engrafted themselves to his bones and are beginning to make marrow and new blood cells.

Hopefully he will only be at Duke another 4 weeks or so and will be ready to come here to the hotel to stay. Then we begin daily out patient treatment.

It means alot to both of us to get email and comments and cards from everyone. Peter loves to get cards in the mail. We may need to bring in another bulletin board to post the cards.

Thanks to you all for your thoughts and prayers. It is nice to know that there are others out there who are keeping us in their prayers.

Wendy

PS I walked for 25 minutes today - at least that is a start.