Day 0, Transplant Day

 

After a week of conditioning, Kurt received his stem cell transplant today at 2:28pm EST. Days -8 through -1 included: 11 total body radiation treatments, chemo, and three treatments of Thymoglobulin. Kurt had to deal with fatigue, nausea, fever, rash, and rigors (shaking). Today, a little over 9 months after his initial diagnosis, he received the gift of stem cells and the hope of a future without Leukemia. 

In the Leukemia world, Day 0 is transplant day, a second birthday, a re-birthday if you will. After some pre-meds (that made Kurt pretty drowsy), the transplant team brought up the frozen stem cells. This beautiful gift from a stranger in Europe arrived in Lexington, bringing hope and new life. We are so incredibly thankful for Kurt's donor and his sacrifice of time, comfort, and stem cells to save Kurt's life. 

Kurt received 4 syringes full of stem cells through the tri-fusion catheter in his chest. The oncologist infused them each slowly over a 30 minute period. During that time, Kurt was asked to eat hard candy, as preservative to protect the stem cells can cause a terrible taste in the mouth and tickling in the throat. He appropriately chose "LifeSavers" candy. 

And now, we wait for those cells to enter Kurt's bone marrow, engraft, and to produce cells. Engraftment generally takes 7-14 days. As we wait for them to begin to work, Kurt's own marrow and cells are dying or already destroyed. His counts will be non-existent. He will require blood transfusions, prophylactic medications to prevent infection, and careful observation. Kurt has also already began immunosuppressant medications that will keep the donor cells from attacking his body. We hope he will have Graft vs. Leukemia effect where the donor cells kill off any cancer cells they encounter, but we pray he does not have Graft vs. Host Disease (GVHD) where the donor cells attack his body. They thymoglobulin treatments he had pre-transplant will also help in preventing GVHD. 

Over the next two weeks, as we wait for the cells to engraft and begin to work, we pray that Kurt will be protected from infection, GVHD, and mucosistis (mouth sores/sores in the GI tract). We pray that his body will fully accept these new cells and that they will work beautifully for many years to come! 

Today, Kurt completed another part of the marathon that his fighting ALL. We come now to the longest part of his journey--the post-transplant healing. We have been told to expect a rough time for the next two weeks. We know we serve an awesome God who can take away these nasty side effects! We also know that if this prayer isn't answered the way we want, He will walk with us through the hard days. 

Thank you for coming along side us and praying. That you for all the messages and encouragement today and on many other days. Thank you for praying for and supporting our children. We love each of you!