Finally

We are on Day 0, again.  This morning Dad was given 3:00 p.m. as the targeted stem cell infusion time.  Dad had another big breakfast of french toast (which he claimed was not very good), sausage, yogurt, banana, cottage cheese, diced pears, donut and coffee.

Also this morning, another member of the family became sick.  Son now has a cold.  I told Husband that he needed to stay away from us (Son, Daughter and me).  We need him to be the healthy chauffeur for Mom.

In early afternoon, Dad was notified that his stem cell infusion was delayed to 8:00 p.m. due to a flight delay.  I wondered if it was due to all the stormy weather occurring in Tampa.  Dad was unsure.

While FaceTiming with Mom and Dad around 4:30 p.m, Dad stated that Mom was anxious.  Mom looked restless.  Turning every which way, she couldn’t sit still in the lounger.  Mom reminded me of an antsy toddler.  Perhaps, it is because she is so petite, and the lounger swallowed her.  Mom was eager to get these stem cells infused.

Later in our FaceTime call around 5:00 p.m., the nurse came into Dad’s room declaring that the stem cells were at Moffitt.  We were all pleasantly surprised by this news.  Dad stated he wanted to take a shower first.  The nurse immediately said “No!”  The nurse sounded hurried and wanted to get Dad’s pre-medications started immediately anticipating a 5:30 p.m. infusion start time.

Mom then rushed to get Dad changed into his pajamas.  Once his face was washed and teeth were brushed, the nurse came in and announced that the infusion was pushed back to 6:00 p.m.

Dad was given his pre-meds.  He was hooked up to his blood pressure machine and a pulse oximeter, which measures Dad’s oxygen level.  Once Dad’s new stem cells were ready, the Cell Therapy Technologist brought them to Dad’s room.  The stems cells looked reddish pink and were in a large bag.  Dad also had a few bags of saline hanging on his tree.  The Cell Therapy Technologist and Dad’s nurse visually inspected the stem cells and verified that Dad’s name and MRN (medical record number) matched what was noted on the stem cell bag.  The stem cells were not sent through the pump.  They were freely dripping on their own from the bag down to Dad’s central line catheter.  It was a beautiful sight…seeing those healthy stem cells going into Dad!

Dad’s vitals were taken every 15 minutes during the first hour of the stem cells being infused.  During the first hour, Dad ate his dinner, which consisted of roast beef with gravy, mashed potatoes with gravy, brussel sprouts, ice cream and chocolate cake.  Mom didn’t bother to eat dinner.  She claimed she was too tired to eat.  Dad said he hadn’t seen her this tired.  She was a bit on edge.  Mom must have been exhausted from the poor quality sleep and the anxiety caused by the delay in the arrival of the stem cells.

One odd bit about the donor.  There seems to be some confusion about who the donor is.  For the past day, Dad had been told that the donor’s blood type was O+ and that in nine months, Dad’s blood type would change from A+ to O+.  Dad said they kept referring to a 31 year old.  We know that is not the case since the 31 year old donor had failed his physical evaluation.  Dad believes that some of the staff didn’t know the full story about the older donor and that Dad had moved to the younger, 19 year old donor.  Dad was happy to learn that the donor is actually A+, which is the same as Dad’s blood type.  Dad believes the 19 year old donor has A+ blood.  We’ll have to sort this out later.

When speaking with Dad about 9:30 p.m., he said that his temperature only “spiked” one degree and then went back down.  The nighttime nurse, Zach, indicated this was a positive sign.  Dad didn’t give Zach’s statement much weight.

Dad also told me that Mom seemed to be sniffing a bit as if she had gotten a runny nose.  I stated that Mom needed to come home immediately and offered to send Husband to stay with Dad.  Dad was in favor of Mom going home, but he was adamant that Husband not come in her place.  Dad said that he would be cared for just fine without Husband having to stay the night at Moffitt.  I pushed backed, and Dad took on that voice of “I am in charge and what I say goes.”  To keep Husband away from any possible illness Mom may have, I picked up Mom around 10:00 p.m.  While in the car with Mom, Mom declared that she was fine, and her sniffles would be gone by morning.  I stressed to Mom that she would be putting Dad’s life in jeopardy if she were to ignore any sign of illness and to pretend she were healthy.  I wasn’t convinced she was truly hearing me.