Transplant Day – Take 2

11/27/13 – One of the nurses came into my room early to wish me an early “Happy Birthday”. I said “Happy Birthday?” and she responded sure, today is your Transplant Day and many patients use it as their new birthday.

As cool as that sounds, I love my birthday. I was born on March 17^th which is St. Patrick’s Day. That is one on the best party days of the year. There is no way I am giving up that day….. BUT, I am completely cool with adding another celebration day to my calendar. My family and I actually celebrate the day I was diagnosed with Mantle Cell Lymphoma. We wanted to turn something bad into something great so we always do something special on that day.

So, you bet I will add today as a new day to celebrate because I truly understand the reason why one would use their transplant date as a birthday. It is all about renewing life, giving someone like me another chance to live a full, healthy life. The awesome people who are willing to donate their bone marrow/stem cells are certainly people of great compassion, charity and kindness. I cannot thank my donor enough for his willingness to help someone he does not know. Maybe someday I will be able to thank him personally.

Every day is a gift and should be celebrated.

“Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!”

Psalms 47:1 

More to come…

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Transplant Day DELAYED

11/26/13 – It always interested me on the whole logistics on how the donor’s stems cells are moved across the country, world or wherever they come from. Well I learned a little bit about it today. The stem cells will not arrive in Hackensack, NJ until later tonight, probably due to some bad weather. This means that my stem cell transplant will now happen tomorrow.

It reminds me of the old Woody Allen quote: “If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.” 

"Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer." 
Romans 12:12

More to come…

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Transplant Day

11/26/13 – I must say that I didn't sleep that well last night. It is probably due to the combination of anxiety, excitement, and the million other things that were going through my brain in anticipation for my Stem Cell Transplant that I will get today.

Yesterday I did get my doses of ATG and Rituximab with a whole bunch of pre-meds. 

With all of that I did have a chance to play my guitar and even put on a small ad hoc concert for some of my nurses… which was a blast. This brings me back to an old thought about living in the moment. Often in things like cancer treatment you hear people tell you to take things a day at a time, but in truth it is a moment at a time. Enjoy the moment!

I still do not know what time my transplant will be. I have heard that there will be a total of 5 allo transplants today so I guess it depends where I fall on the schedule. In truth the process is very simple. It is like getting a blood or platelet infusion. They just have to watch me to make sure I do not have a bad reaction to it. The expectation is that I will take in well and sleep the rest of the day away.

I do feel good and positive and I have my full trust in the healing powers of God. 

Today will be a good day.

Here is a link to a great song by Jeremy Camp called "Carried Me". Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKUV5rYFfk0

Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”

Deuteronomy 31:6

More to come…

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T Minus 1 Day Til' Transplant

11/25/13 – With my second day of getting ATG I hit a bit of brick wall. It was probably the combination of the ATG and the Benadryl that really exhausted me.

Today I get my last dose of ATG and a dose of Rituximab. Being they both have Benadryl as part of the pre-meds I guess I will have another sleepy day.

Another huge part of today is that this is the day that the donor will be donating his stem cells. I do not know much about that wonderfully generous person, hopefully someday I will. What I do know is that the donor is a white male, who is 35 years old and has either lives or had lived in Europe. He is an 8 out of 10 match with the mismatches not being in areas of big concern.

I am just so grateful to my donor, and for that matter, anyone who is willing to help others with whatever they need. This generosity reminds me of a fantastic song my Matt Maher “Hold Us Together”. Here is a link to it, enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut0ENzQcjrM

Then the King will say, ‘For sure, I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of My brothers, you have done it to Me.’

Matthew 25:40-45

More to come…

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T Minus 2 Days Til' Transplant

11/24/13 – So, I was really a trooper with the ATG infusion. I handled it great. I was a little tired from the premeds (Benadryl knocks me out every time). Today I will get an increased dose of the ATG and the Tacrolimus will begin. I am done with getting the Fludarabine and the Cyclophosphamide as of last night’s doses.

I am doing excellent with my exercising, I walked over 2 miles yesterday and already have logged a mile for today. I have been putting on weight at about 5 pounds per day. This is caused by all the fluids I am getting through my IV. It kind of reminds me of the Willy Wonka movie when the girl gets overloaded with grape juice and needed to be de-juiced.

Again, I want to stress that I feel well and that I am ready for my big day on Tuesday when I will have the transplant. I am truly feeling very peaceful.

The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace.

Psalm 29:11

More to come…

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T Minus 3 Days Til' Transplant

11/23/13 – Yesterday went great. I actually got to play my guitar, walked about 2 miles around the nurses station (22 laps makes a mile). I really haven’t had any effects from the last couple days of chemo. I had visitors of my wife, Sue and daughter, Alli. Today they will be back and also my other daughter Jill will be joining us.

The plan for the day is to get my doses of Fludarabine and Cyclophosphamide. In addition I will also get ATG. Tomorrow I will get another dose of ATG and start with Tacrolimus.

WOW these are some big words. Let me help by giving some brief descriptions.

• ATG is an infusion of horse or rabbit-derived antibodies against human T cells, which is used in the Gee I wonder prevention and treatment of acute rejection in organ transplantation and therapy of aplastic anemia. Gee, I wonder if I am going to start craving raw carrots.
• Cyclophosphamide is a drug that is used primarily for treating several types of cancer. In order to work, cyclophosphamide first is converted by the liver into two chemicals, acrolein and phosphoramide. Acrolein and phosphoramide are the active compounds, and they slow the growth of cancer cells by interfering with the actions of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) within the cancerous cells. In addition to slowing the growth of cancerous cells, cyclophosphamide also suppresses the immune system and is referred to as immunosuppressive.
• Fludarabine or fludarabine phosphate (Fludara) is a chemotherapy drug used in the treatment of hematological malignancies (cancers of blood cells such as leukemias and lymphomas). It is a purine analog, which interferes with DNA synthesis.
• Methotrexate, abbreviated MTX and formerly known as amethopterin, is an antimetabolite and antifolate drug. It is used in treatment of cancer, autoimmune diseases, ectopic pregnancy, and for the induction of medical abortions. It acts by inhibiting the metabolism of folic acid. I will start taking this after the transplant.
• Rituximab (trade names Rituxan and MabThera) is a chimeric monoclonal antibody against the protein CD20, which is primarily found on the surface of immune system B cells. Rituximab destroys B cells and is therefore used to treat diseases which are characterized by excessive numbers of B cells, overactive B cells, or dysfunctional B cells. This includes many lymphomas, leukemia, transplant rejection, and autoimmune disorders.
• Tacrolimus is an immunosuppressive drug that is mainly used with allogeneic transplants to reduce the activity of the patient's immune system and so lower the risk of rejection. 

 I just have to thank God every day for all the blessings in my life, my wonderful loving wife, the best daughters any one could wish for and so many great family and friends.

And I guess I need to thanks our animal friends, after all some rabbit or horse has “donated” the key components for the ATG I will get today.

And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.

Genesis 1:21

More to come…

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T Minus 4 Days Til' Transplant

11/22/13 – So I did make it into the hospital last night. I was in my room at about 7PM. To keep things on track I settled in quickly, was given some pre-chemo drugs followed by IV doses of Fludarabine and Cyclophosphamide. I will get both of these again today.

So far I am feeling fine. The nurses here on the transplant floor (9^th Floor, Pavilion East) of Hackensack University Medical Center are simply awesome. And as far as it goes with Dr. Rowley, the more I see him the more I like him. Also his team is just great.

I did decide to bring a small travel guitar. I have already had it out to help time pass. I think this was a good move.

I had a few visitors from the hospital staff. The nutritionist stopped by to review how they work. Being an old pro here, I am very familiar with how this works. My personal eating challenge centers more on smells versus the taste of the food. As soon as I pick up a bad smell I lose my appetite. The one smell that gets me is the smell of plastic. The food is typically transported to the rooms in a plastic serving dish with a cover. When the cover is removed, the first smell that is released is the hot plastic. After explaining this to the nutritionist she said I could request that my food be wrapped in aluminum foil. This will help me a lot. It just shows you how accommodating they are here.

I also met with one of the resident Catholic Priests. He offered to help me in any way that I need. He gave me the televised mass schedule and will be stopping by periodically to bring me Communion.

On a personal note… Both my daughters (Jill and Alli) have made the cast of the 2014 tour of “Bring it On – The Musical” which will travel throughout the US and some parts of Asia (mostly Japan). I am so proud of them. Their tour schedule has them in New Jersey (my home state) in May of 2014. I am thinking I can make this. This is certainly something I will shoot for.

O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

Psalms 95:1 

More to come…

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