Nothing is ever simple. It's 800 am and kaeden was just taken back for his surgery. He was his usual brave and energetic self. He was a big hit with the nursing staff in his Super Kaeden gear ( thanks again Jen!). He should be out of surgery in an hour to 90 minutes.
All four of SAMs picc line lumens are infected and she had a fever of 103 the night before last. Since it's all of her lines, they are assuming it is something systemic ( blood infection moving throughout her body) and have started yet another antibiotic.
There was a brief three hour period last night from midnight to 3 where the resident have the impression that there was a small chance this could effect our ability to carry out today's plan which sent us into a tailspin. Luckily our attending transplant doc emailed me back at 330 am stating we will move forward in all cases unless Sam was " septic" and had unsteady vital signs. This was very important since kaeden was to be at pre-op at 630am and he cannot be a donor twice . The last thing we wanted was to surgically extract super kaedens marrow and not be able to use it!!!!
Luckily all systems a go! After kaedens marrow is extracted, it is quickly sent thru a centrifuge system removing certain elements and will be transported to SAMs room as quickly as possible. A doc and nurse then remain in the room and she is given kaedens marrow through her picc line like a transfusion. They take vital signs every five minutes and give the marrow as quickly as possible to avoid cell breakdown outside of the body. The guess is it will take about 30 minutes.
A lot of anxiety about all the transport and handoffs necessary with this precious material because with enough time in any hospital, the human error element becomes painfully clear.... But at some point the worrying gets so overwhelming , you have no choice but to let go ...
They call day 0 a new birthday of sorts so happy birthday Sammi! We hope more than words can express we celebrate this day next year as the day that saved your life!
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ReplyDeleteYour post brought me to tears. I can't even fathom anything but a joyous "birthday" for Sam. Lots of love and hugs to my incredible niece and nephew!!
ReplyDeleteWoohoo! Happy new birthday Sammi!! Love you all.
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ReplyDeleteSending lots of prayers and love to all of you today! Your beautiful children's amazing strength comes from the incredible strength shown by their phenomenal parents through all of this. Happy new Birthday to Sammi and Happy Superhero Day to the Best Brother of the Year Award Winner Kaeden!!!!
ReplyDeleteRumor has it that Kaeden will be appearing on Big Bang Theory with his great costume!
ReplyDeleteActual quotes from friends and family:
"I was in tears after getting Stacy's note about Kaeden this morning...
Gramps
"Is Sammy better now?"
I mean really...
You must be very proud of him"
"So scary and it brings tears to my eyes"
"What a precious boy. I can't stop crying at work"