Care During and After BMT

Brenan is getting set for his BMT. He looks good and is in high spirits. It's easier for him to eat liquids right now because his stomach and esophagus are a bit sensitive from the radiation. He is not allowed to consume any foods outside the hospital though - so no Dairy Queen milkshakes, sorry! My mom, dad, and I learned a ton about what Brenan can and cannot eat while he is recovering from his transplant, and many other facets of the recovery process. It was a bit overwhelming for me to take in all the information.

He will receive the donated marrow on Wednesday but we're not sure of an exact time yet. Tomorrow, he has to get his blood "scrubbed," meaning they need to rid his blood of any typing so that his body does not reject the donated bone marrow which comes from a donor with a different blood type. I don't think "scrubbing" is the technical term, but that's how I think of it. :)

Here's a little bit more information about what the next few weeks will be like for Brenan:

The Transplant & Recovery
Physicians usually transplant the harvested marrow or stem cells intravenously, in the same way that they would administer a blood transfusion. Over the following days and weeks, the transplanted stem cells in the graft migrate to the marrow space in the patient's bones, where they gradually begin to produce blood and immune system cells.

Between two and three weeks after the transplant, physicians should begin to detect cells of the donor's type in the patient's bloodstream. As time passes, a successful graft is able to produce the full range of blood components including red blood cells (erythrocytes), white blood cells (leukocytes, including polys or neutrophils), and platelets.

During the days just after transplantation, patients need a great deal of medical support including transfusions of irradiated blood products like platelets and red cells. Patients also receive antibiotics to prevent and treat infections. These include bacterial, viral, and fungal infections, which are most likely to occur in the first three months after transplantation. Patients are also vulnerable to complications of the preparative regimen, which may require specific treatment.

Patients generally remain in the hospital for several weeks after the transplant. During this time precautionary measures protect the patient from infection by requiring people who enter the room to wear protective gloves and masks, and to wash their hands with antiseptic soap. Sometimes people entering the room need to cover their clothing with clean, disposable gowns. Fresh fruit, flowers, plants, or cut flowers are barred from the patient's room, as these can carry disease-causing molds and bacteria.

So our hope is that a few weeks after the transplant, successful grafting will occur and his body will fully accept the new marrow