Day 0

Today was kind of a big deal for Chloe. All of last weeks treatments killed all of her own bone marrow cells to get ready for the new cord blood. The chemo she has had over the last three years has also attacked her marrow, but the combination fo irradiation and chemo she got last week obliterated it. If she didn't get a transplant today, her marrow would never recover. So today is referred to as Day 0, the starting point of engraftment and recovery. She has been very exhausted and not feeling good at all. She tries to feel good but just doesn't. Since today was a special day for her we were glad she was feeling a little better when she woke up. The way she has felt the last few days, I didn't think she would want any visitors other than family. But she was looking forward to a little party, and in a way i think she feels better just because she knows she is getting new marrow.

At 3:15 this afternoon, the cord blood was ready to go and the doctors and nurses came in with silly hats to sing Chloe Happy BMT day. Stacie bought Chloe a little scrapbook and disposable camera so she could make her own scrapbook of her BMT stay. Here she is taking a picture of a couple of her favorite nurses. Tabitha from Minnisota [R], and Kathy from Mass. [L]. They are both super nice to Chloe and took really good care of her today. Chloe's taking a picture with her little camera for her scrapbook. It was a good thing we did the little party thing before the BMT took place because Chloe quickly didn't feel well again. The cord blood transplant she got was from a boy that was born 9 years ago. The cord blood can be stored up to 25 or so years and still works great. To store it though, they have to mix in a chemical when they freeze it.

This is what a bag of cord blood used for a BMT looks like. The bag is hooked up to her IV and was all infused within 15-20 minutes. Miraculously, the cord blood just finds its own way into the bones.
They prepped Chloe with some drugs to offset the side effects of that chemical, but some kids react different than others. Within seconds of hooking her up to the bag she was bright red and in intense pain in her abdomen. She started screaming, throwing up and suddenly couldn't control her bowels either. Stacie made her favorite cake at home, froze it and brought it down for her. Chloe loved it, but it all came up. It was pretty messy and she was in a lot of pain for a while, but after 40 minutes or so she started feeling better. Within an hour or two she was feeling a lot better and painting, her sisters, my sisters, Stacie's and my moms fingernails with the polish she got as a BMT gift.

So now we just wait and see if the cord blood engrafts. We expect her to start feeling the effects of her chemo this week. So she'll probably get some bad mouth sores, feel lousy and some other side effects that sound junky. She has a calendar on her door where everyone can throw in a dollar and guess the day of engraftment (when her ANC counts are 500 or more for the second day). I gave Chloe a silver dollar and she has guessed the 7th of February. We'll see if she is right, either way she'll get her silver dollar back since the winner gets the glory and Chloe gets the cash. So engraftment can take anywhere from 3-5 weeks from what it sounds like. Different with every kid, kind of like side effects.

I joke sometimes that there is a lot of emotion in our house with all the girls. Actually it's not a joke, there is. But man, Chloe is a tough little girl. She is handling this better than a lot of men would.

Thanks to all of you for your prayers for Chlo-pie and our family. We really appreciate it. And thanks a grundle to the sweet lady that donated her sons cord blood 9 years ago - whoever/wherever you are!