Day Plus One

Wow, my emotions are all over the map today. The social worker said that would happen to the care givers too. Gus is doing ok. He feels lousy but he is able to shower and had some breakfast. I got a much needed shower and was able to get our wash done. I am NOT allowed to use his bathroom in the room due to the fact that it is set up to monitor 'things' of his. Also, they are particular about germs, etc that might be on another body. There is a 'family bathroom' ten miles away. LOL OK, not really but it feels that way, ESPECIALLY when I have to get up in the middle of the night. There is a washer/dryer on this floor too that we all share. I was lucky to be up early enough to be the first one in there today. So, we have clean clothes for another few days, and I feel as if I have my household chores done.
For the update: today is Saturday, Jan 27th. Considered Day Plue 1. We arrived at Huntsman Cancer Center Hosptial on Thursday Jan 25th. (Considered day -1) Around 3:00 p.m., Gus was given the high dose of chemo to clean out any remaining bad cells in his body. Sadly, this also cleans out all the good one too. He did ok receiving this treatment. On Friday Jan 26th, (considered day 0, zero), he received his stem cells back. Once I figure out how to post pictures, I will add some really interesting pictures. He had to start chewing ice 30 minutes prior to getting the stem cells back. The purpose of this is to freeze the capillaries in his mouth so the cells stay away from his mouth and go toward his bone marrow. If he doesn't chew the ice, he will get horrible mouth sores not only in his mouth but all the way down his throat too. He chewed ice for two straight hours.
I thought that the process of re-introducing his stem cells back was amazing. Caroline, who is part of the BMT transplant team that aided in the collection or harvesting of the stem cells brought them all back in this container that looked like a high tech cooler. I am sure that it is. She told me that the stem cells are in this container at -180 degree C. Frozen, solid, in a perservative. She has three bags that hold 2.5 million stem cells that he is given back. She takes out one bag at a time and puts in in a thawing warm water bath to thaw the cells. He is them given one bag back at a time. The Caroline and our sweet nurse, Chidi, doesn't leave his side during the whole process. Between the two of them, the numbers are doubled checked on each bag of cells, verifying his name, date of birth, collection number etc. There are no chances of any mistakes. It is really amazing.
After the stem cell replacement was done, the staff surprised us by coming in and singing HAPPY RE-BIRTHDAY to Gus. They brought him a birthday balloon, a card signed by the whole staff, a warm homemade blanket, slippers and a hat to cover his soon-to be- bald head.
He had a problem shortly after the process was complete. It sent me over to my couch/bed where I began praying silently for a quick recovery. They were having a challenging stablizing him. His blood presser spike to an unsafe level and they had to call in the BMT dr on the floor. After about 45 minutes of intense work,he began to recover more in the normal range that he needed to be.
That brings us up to today.