Latest news and a day off!

Yesterday I went to the clinic expecting to get labs, see Donna (my CRNP), see the transplant doctor, get platelets and come home. Well, my morning labs had my platelets still at 11,000 - the same as they were on Monday. That was highly unusual. I had not gotten a transfusion of platelets on Monday. Instead I had gotten two units of red cells. So they planned to wait to give me platelets until Thursday. The doc decided that since my platelets were so low and since my Picc line has been working fine, that I would not get a Hickman catheter. Didn't want to take chances on excess bleeding. So they sent me off and said they would see me on Thursday for the first dose of chemo.

Mike and I came back to the apartment and were talking about how to spend my day and a half off, when we got a phone call from Donna. It turns out my donor is an International Donor. She had just gotten some paperwork that I had to sign. (International donors require more paperwork, of course.) So I'm excited. Dr. Kassim had told me I'd know about my donor by what accent I started speaking with after transplant. (I really like him.) So, international - now I'm gonna be EXOTIC. Mike and I decided to walk over to the clinic. There's a pedestrian bridge that goes over 21st Street so it was easy to do. Once I got there I tried to find out the country. Nope. No can do. So now I'm also gonna be MYSTERIOUS. I also had to give three more vials of blood.

We decided to grab a bite to eat in the Courtyard Cafe to check it out. (They make very good roasted red potatoes, btw.) We had to walk out back past the hematology unit and Donna was so happy to see us. Apparently her assistant didn't realise they'd already run platelets on me and had run them on one of the three vials I had given just before lunch. Now my platelets were down to 10,000. As it was up to me, and I decided to go ahead and get a transfusion so I could enjoy my Wednesday off. Donna and Mike were both relieved.

The bag of platelets they sent me was the largest bag any of us, including the nurses in the unit, had ever seen. Took over an hour and a half to infuse. Near the end Donna came by and said, "Oh, btw, this is the last bag of O+ platelets you will get." Of course I wanted to know why. Well, it turns out my donor has A positive blood. Not only am I going to be 22, EXOTIC and MYSTERIOUS, but I'm also going to be A PLUS. What a deal! LOL

Months ago when I was first exploring the idea of a transplant, I told Mike I needed the bone marrow of a 22 year old, and that I hoped they were A positive. This donor and I were meant to be!

Because my donor is male, from now on my genetic karyotype will be male. The girls and I were laughing about how will we explain how two male A+ parents produced two female O+ offspring. I am totally fascinated with the whole of what happens after transplants. I read a very interesting book called A Change of Heart, by Claire Sylvia. She has a heart/lung transplant and after recovery started having various changes in her life. She craved foods she never wanted before. Her personality changed somewhat. Not completely, but she did and thought things she never thought before. After much searching she found out who her donor was and met his family. It turned out that the changes she experienced were all things that were associated with her 18yo donor. Obviously bone marrow is not the same as organs, but I wonder if other things besides my karyotype and blood type will change. Oh, and my age, of course!

This morning, on my day off, we slept late and then spent a leisurely, lazy morning. Around lunchtime we went out to eat at Cheesecake Factory (I'd been craving their salad with roasted beets and goat cheese) and grocery shopping. I got a chance to explore Trader Joe's. It's right next to The Mall at Green Hills. One of the things we bought was a box of miniature heirloom tomatoes. Had those for dinner and they were delish! We also went to Harris Teeter, which will be our regular grocery store. It's a two story store. Don't think I've ever taken an elevator with my grocery cart before. But we managed to find everything we needed except pasteurised honey. (One of my diet restrictions.) Mike will get some of that at Publix when he's home Friday. It was nice to go out shopping, but I was pretty much exhausted when we got home.

Not sure if I am going to be able to sleep tonight or not. In more ways than one, Tomorrow IS the first day of the rest of my life.