Last Wednesday Marty began a very strong chemo treatment lasting for six days. Two chemo drugs were used -- one on Wednesday - Friday and the second on Saturday - Monday. These chemo treatments went well and on Tuesday, Marty had a "day of rest" from his treatment. Between yesterday and today Marty had his stem cells, which had been harvested from him several weeks ago, re-injected (transplanted) into his body. The doctors were quite happy with how this transplant went as this can be quite the ordeal for certain patients. Marty himself dealt with all the commotion, discomfort and anything else he was enduring quite well.
While the harvested stem cells were out of Marty's body, they were frozen. Yesterday five, 60 cc syringes, totalling 300 cc's of stem cells were transplanted back into Marty over about 35 minutes. Present at Marty's bedside in his regular room were: Marty, Erica, Dad Toet, three medical staff who's job it was to thaw the stem cells and load the syringes, one person confirming that the stem cells were actually Marty's, one person who was in charge of the whole procedure, a doctor whose specialty is stem cell transplants, and two nurses to constantly monitor Marty's blood pressure, pulse, and oxygen levels for the duration of the transplant. Marty was on oxygen during the procedure. To say the least, the room was full! Today, it was the same procedure: part two.
Marty received two units of blood which is quite normal for chemotherapy patients to receive. He was very quiet today and over recent days has been confused at times. This could be the result of the chemo treatments.
Over the past few weeks, Marty's mobility and balance had been slowly regressing. Since starting chemotherapy last Wednesday his mobility and balance has improved somewhat. Naturally this has given Marty more confidence in his ability to get around. Last night he decided to try to make his way to the washroom (a room right in his room) and fell to the floor. At the time there was no one in the room. He was soon discovered and returned to his bed. Thankfully he only suffered a small scratch from his glasses and a small bump on the side of his head!
So now we wait. Ideally the chemotherapy will have dealt a significant blow to Marty's brain cancer -- time will tell. A doctor vaguely noted that perhaps an MRI will be done in a few weeks to see where the cancer's at. We know that these chemo drugs attack not only cancer cells but also red and white blood cells and platelets. So Marty's immune system was attacked by the chemo drugs and rendered virtually non-existent. Hence the stem cell transplant. God, in his wisdom, created stem cells which can become red and white blood cells and platelets as needed. The hope is that the transplanted stem cells, which were spared the chemo treatment, will go back to Marty's bone marrow and then start doing their job: becoming the cells necessary for a "new" immune system. Quite amazing!
"My frame is not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."
-- Psalm 139:15,16 --
