Day 0 arrived and while I was excited, I tried not to “make a big deal” about it because we all know how teenagers *love* it when their moms make a big deal. 😂

Even though he’s **getting stem cells** and will have a reconstituted immune system 🤯 — and that’s a BFD — the biggest of all of our lives — everything was steady as she goes over here, which was a tribute to Sam and his awesomeness.  And that was reflected in my favorite photo of the afternoon: him holding his cell phone just like any other day while the stem cells used the old school method of gravity to find their new home.

The top line is he did great. There was a tiny chance that he could have an allergic reaction to it just like any other blood product so they monitor heavily the first 15 mins. And subsequent 15 minute segments too.  Thankfully nothing.

Around 4 pm, the stem cells arrived in a very non-high tech container: literally a hand held cooler with a flip top that many people carry their lunches in. It was carried by a woman in a white lab coat. There is a serious hand off procedure that includes the lab scientist going over all the information with the attending doctor: they ask all of Sam’s info (birthday, medical record number, etc — everything that the bag of stem cells has printed on it and it *has to match* hence all the checking and re-checking.  And then they go over the same for my information, which is also listed on the bag: the scientist asking the doctor and the doctor reading the bag’s label and answering.

Then the doctor signs off that he (in our case) received it and it’s all kopacetic (to quote my dear, 86 year old father ❤️).

Then they do that process again but the nurse is the recipient and the doctor asks her (in our case) the questions.

Dr. Shyr said that I was able to give Sam 8 million cells per kilo of Sam’s weight which is within the target amount (Dr. Bertaina, who runs the SCT program here, likes to get 10 million/kilo but there are other factors that contribute to getting to 10 million and so 8, 9 or 10 or more is considered enough (There is no correlation between more stem cells and better long term outcomes or fewer instances of  infection or less graft vs. host disease or higher rates of stem cell rejection. The only correlation is with faster time to engraftment).

Watching my cells travel by gravity down the tube and into Sam’s body was very memorable (they only use gravity, no pump (except Sam’s heart, of course) because a pump can damage the cells). And the entire process only took 30 mins!?!?!?! 🤯. Thinking about part of me finding a home in him and restoring his immune system makes me eternally grateful that he was born at the time he was, that we we have access to a world class medical center and it’s only 5 mins away, and we get to both benefit from and participate in moving science forward in the form of clinical trials. Humbling. Gratitude-filled. Steady as she goes with my own sprinkle of excitement on top.

Hopeful.  On to Day 1.

#FULeukemia

#LFGStemCells

#TeamSamStrong