Cat Poop Disease; or The Transplant that Almost Wasn't

Getting to Jewish Hospital by 8am is never easy when you're coming from Northern Kentucky. No matter when you leave the house you're fighting rush hour traffic. This morning was no exception, but I headed out anyway, ready to have a minor surgery and then be admitted to the hospital for 3-12 weeks.

But that almost didn't happen. While I was waiting to register, my transplant coordinator came down to the lobby to inform me that there was an issue with my donor. She wasn't showing any signs of being sick, but her blood work indicated that she could be coming down with an infection. Bad news, since I'm inheriting her immune system and could also be infected.

My primary oncologist was alerted to the news. He would recommend one of 3 options: proceed as planned, wait until this donor was better, or screen an entirely new donor. Either of the last two courses of action would result in a delay of at least a week if not a month or more. Everything was put on stand-by, even my morning surgery, until my doctor could review all the details.

It turns out that my donor might be coming down with toxoplasmosis, a disease contracted and spread mostly by cats. When my doctor explained the whole situation (and recommended proceeding as planned) all I could do was cock my head to the side and say in disbelief, "Cat poop disease? Really?" I laughed so hard I almost cried. Somehow I just couldn't believe that a parasitic litterbox somewhere in Germany (where my donor is from) could be a matter of life and death for me. But it is.

After a good, exhaustion-driven laugh, we decided to move forward with the transplant process now.

Step one was to install a triple lumen Hickman catheter. This is a tube that comes straight out of my upper chest near my shoulder and provides 3 lines of access into my bloodstream. Doctors and nurses love it. I like not getting stuck with needles all day long, but I hate the "line." I'm always super stressed that some tiny little germ is going to sneak into me around the area with the open hole into my body. It's a necessary evil though for the transplant, so it's installed.

The way to this girl's heart is now directly accessible.

Next I was admitted into my room, allowed to change back to my non-hospital-gown clothes, and then started on my first dose of chemo. The idea is that the chemo will eliminate any remaining bits of cancer as well as lessen my immune system (so the donor's immune system has room to move in and make itself at home). Today's chemo was called Melphalan and infused over just 30 minutes. I was so exhausted that I slept through the whole thing and don't even remember my nurse unhooking the i.v. bag!

I'm feeling pretty good all things considered. Not much pain from the line. Just a headache and sore throat from the chemo. Hopefully the sore throat isn't foreshadowing mouth sores, but we'll cross that bridge if we get there. (12:30a update: developed nausea and it's aftermath, but took meds to get rid of it. Blech!) For now I'm just hanging out in my smallish, decoration-less room.

There's more wall space than you can see here.

If you'd like to see your card, postcard, or other fun mail featured here, check out my last post here: http://sintelligently.blogspot.com/2012_03_01_archive.html
All mail is greatly appreciated (and anticipated)!

This is home for the next few weeks, help make it homey!