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 11th 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 5th 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!
My dear MacKenzie, thank you so much for the update, I know it takes a long time especially with everything you and the family have been through. I spoke to your dad this morning and got to hear from him how it went. Like Danielle said on FB you are all our heroes...You all have the strength and courage of an entire army. I hope that Morgan feels better soon. Take care of her, please. I was teasing Mason last night...I was wondering if he had a sudden urge to play the guitar...LOL...he thought it was funny. Well remember that you are all loved and prayed for everyday....Hugs and kisses to Mason and Morgan...you and Parket too....
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post MacKenzie. It answers a lot of questions about the procedure and outcome. We know realize the extent of Morgan's courage and generosity. Mason is lucky to have such a great family.
ReplyDeleteWe are happy things went well and always pray for you all.
Thanks Mackenzie for this blog. You're doing a great job with it. So glad to hear the transplant went well and all the detail.
ReplyDeleteKeeping you all in our prayers