Coming to you from day +3!
Curt's transplant went beautifully, as expected and we cannot thank you enough for the outpouring of love and cards. Curt's room is the best decorated, and his windowsill is covered in cards from so many people near and far.
It was a magical moment when the donor's bone marrow began to infuse through his IV. We all were able to say a prayer together, and then sang happy birthday. Even Curt's nurse participated in the prayer and singing...SO COOL!
We learned a few things about the transplant that I found absolutely amazing. The donor was able to donate 2.9 million stem cells PER 1 kilogram of Curtis' weight. Without having you do the math, that is roughly 233 MILLION cells that were transplanted into Curt's body. It was fascinating to my nursing brain that we were even able to see the individual cells going into his IV line.
We also learned that the donor probably had to do multiple donations over the course of multiple days. Our family was again in awe over the amount of work that this young man had to go through in order to donate his stem cells for another man who he has never met, thousands of miles away.
The transplant coordinator told us that we must wait a year before being able to contact the donor. In the meantime we are able to send an anonymous letter to him, through the coordinator, but it cannot have any names, locations or clues that could lead the donor to us.
Unfortunately, the hard part isn't the transplant, but the healing from all of the chemotherapy and radiation Curt endured prior to the transplant. With today marking +3 he is right around his lowest point, and will hopefully begin to feel some improvement by day +8 which is this Sunday. It has really been hard, as the time seems to pass so very slow for him. Please lift him up in prayer, that he continues to have the drive to fight, as well as the stamina to endure this week. It is definitely the hardest week of his life.
Please let me know if you have any questions about anything, and I will meet you back in this space soon for more updates!
What a great explanation of what has transpired! It's wonderful to know that there are amazing and unselfish individuals in our world. For this, we give thanks. Get some rest during the time ahead.
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