transplant success

Tuesday, Day 5

What an exciting day. The web had been out so we couldn’t let you know earlier what has gone on. They started prepping Dave at about 1:00 EST. A wonderful friend of Dr Nancy and Mitchell Ghen came in to pray the 118 psalm with us in Hebrew. Dave and Cindy had been reciting verse 17, “I will live and not die and declare the works of the Lord”…..we had shared this with Ayddie who is from Israel. He said he had the book of Psalms with him and would we like to hear it in Hebrew……..wow. So he came in and talked with us and shared his wisdom…he is a very spiritual man who has learned a lot of lessons from the Kabala and through his journey. He spoke with Dave about letting go and taking care of himself right now and embracing serenity, joy and love (obviously I have condensed his wisdom into a few catch phrases). Then we prayed the psalm and Ayddie spoke first in Hebrew than translated into English….such very powerful words ending with this is the Day the lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad. They moved Dave over to the clinic operating room and we were able to accompany him inside. Dr. Nancy exlained what would happen: stem cells were prepared the same way as before, they cut away a small area of skin at the hip bone and some of Dave’s bone marrow is extracted (this is for diagnostic purposes and to compare it to his bone marrow again at his next booster visit), the stem cells are then transplanted to his bone marrow, he is stitched back up and all is done. Pretty simple stuff. Dave had nitrous oxide to calm him down and other IV drugs to help him not feel anything (he said later that he heard everything and only felt a small stick).

As they were prepping Dave they let us in the room to pray and be with him. They asked what kind of music he wanted to hear and then put on an upbeat Christian rock song….praise God!!!! Cindy and I were in tears of course, it was very moving and hard not to believe that God wasn’t right there in the room with all of us. Dave was in great hands for sure. Dr. Mitchell came in to pray and do the transplant and we left. Just a few minutes later he was out telling us that Dave was getting stitched up by Dr. Vanessa and that Dave was the easiest patient he had ever had….he has great bones and bone marrow. Dr. Vanessa apparently told Dave she was stitching “Dr. V was here”!!!!! Dave said that was fine with him.

He was wheeled back to his room and walked into bed on his own….told Jerry that it was a piece of cake, that he didn’t feel a thing. We will let you know how he is feeling later and get some photos on the blog if possible.

Thanks for everyone’s love and support, it is uplifting David to hear from you all.

DCB