The Transplant

As all of you know, Mason got his bone marrow transplant yesterday; more importantly, Morgan donated her bone marrow to him. It was a pretty boring day in Room 14 on the 11^th floor of this hospital, but down in the recovery room, it was much more eventful.

Morgan went in for her surgery at 5:30 yesterday morning. The procedure, however, didn’t start until around 7. She woke up in the recovery room a little after 11, about four hours after it began. All she wanted to do was sleep due to some of the medications she was given, and she did not want any visitors. Her nurse told us to call back in an hour or so to check back.

Meanwhile in Mason’s room we were having a birthday and re-birthday party! The bone marrow from Morgan came up a little bit before 12. It showed up in a one liter IV bag that weighed—wait for it—two pounds!! I’m sure that doesn’t seem like a lot, but for those of you who know how tiny Morgan is, you know that it is in fact a lot, especially when you consider the fact that 4% of your body mass is your bone marrow. The IV bag was hooked up, and the transplant began at 12:03 yesterday afternoon. It was a pretty anticlimactic experience, as we were expecting much more than just an IV of bone marrow to go into his blood, and I’m sure most of you were expecting the same. Contrary to what many people may think, we were blessed to have a boring day with Mason. Those days are much better for us than the hectic ones. Exactly three hours later, at 3:03 yesterday, Mason’s body was filled with his new bone marrow!

Before he finished up, at 1:30 or so, my parents and I went to visit my sister in the recovery room. We were told that only one of us could see her at a time, so we took turns. I went after my mom did, and I was pretty excited to see her. She looked like she just got her wisdom teeth out, not her bone marrow. She was pretty puffy and swollen from the fluid they were giving her through an IV, and she was groggy and tired from the pain medicine. The poor girl! Before we visited her for the second time, she even fainted when they asked her to go from a sitting position to a standing one. She was in a lot of pain—more than expected—so they checked her into the 5^th floor of the Weinberg building, all the way across the hospital from Mason. We were told that this situation is not uncommon for people like Morgan because she is a tiny female who needed to donate a lot of bone marrow to her younger but bigger brother. She spent the night in that room with my mom, but luckily, Mason was able to put a mask on, grab his IV pole and make the long walk to see his big sister. It was awesome to all be together. 

On a regular bone marrow transplant donor, they make two holes to extract the bone marrow, and before the surgery, they told us that due to Morgan’s size, they would be making four. Lo and behold, they made six. The discovery of the two extra spots they went into pretty much explained all of her pain. She did get discharged a couple hours ago, but because of the pain she’s in, the walk to Mason’s room that takes the rest of us about ten minutes took Morgan about 45. The fact that she is up and walking is great though, and all she needs now is a few days of recovery.

A program that Johns Hopkins runs for the kids here is called “Beads of Courage.” Each bead represents a challenge that has been overcome by the patient. Mason has a string with his many beads, and now Morgan does too. Due to the fact that her donation journey was much longer than many other patients, she was given a few extra beads, just for fun. It’s a pretty cool program that allows the young kids, or even big ones like Morgan and Mason, to get excited and look forward to jumping hurdles that appear to be in the middle of their path.

What Morgan did was more than amazing. I think that it was worth giving up a few days of running, even though we all know she’s crazy about it! My family continues to amaze and inspire me in the amount of strength and courage they have shown. I’m truly impressed by the things they have done and the feats they have accomplished. I know I’m as blessed to have all of them as Mason is blessed to have had a perfect match and willing donor in Morgan. Mason is supercharged with his new marrow, and he seems like a whole new kid. As Morgan begins to improve and feel better, Mason does too. All is good and getting much better for our family. We thank you so very much for your continued support, faith and prayers!