Transplant - Day 0

Jack had his transplant this afternoon, and just as the doctor anticipated, smooth sailing all the way. A tech came in 10 minutes before transplant and thawed his blood cells. Before transplant, his cells were frozen using liquid nitrogen to a cool -190 degrees. These were frozen about four months ago. 
The whole process took about an hour and a half. Jack felt fine throughout -- they did give him some Tylenol and Benadryl to prevent any nausea or fever. He was watching MineCraft videos and playing on his iPad. He was happily doing his own thing not paying any attention to all the commotion.

He received 86 ML of cells (about 3 ounces) and in that volume, there are 18 billion blood stem cells. 

Very cool.  You can see cells going through his line.
(the little white dots.)

There is a preservative they add to the bag of cells, so his body is secreting a weird odor - a mixture of cream corn and garlic. He's a bit stinky, but he can't smell it. The smell only lasts about 24 hours.
All in all, glad the excitement is over and were are moving forward.

We start neupogen shots today and Jack asked the nurse if I can give him the injection - and I can. Well guess what, I don't want to! We're in a hospital, full of nurses. He said no way, wants me to do the shots. grrrrrrrrrr.... the things we do for our kids.

Today I'm grateful for a successful transplant, a happy child that is still eating and drinking and weighing in at 45 lbs.