Transplant!
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The Shuman Family
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The Shuman Family
Yesterday we were at the hospital bright and early. Transplant day is a very HAPPY day at the hospital. They consider it "new life....rebirth". It was a great day but a LONG day. We were there for over 7 hours.
We had the Chaplain come in and he shared a prayer/blessing with us. The Chaplain laughed and told Todd he has probably done 900 of these with patients and he has NEVER seen anyone keep their shoes on for this procedure. He laughed that Todd was ready to go at any time and get the heck out of here. Which was so true.
The stem cells come in this tank and are cryopreserved. They have to use huge mittens to take out his stem cells and they can only take one bag out at a time. Then they thaw it in a warm water bath and have to use it quickly. The longer they stay thawed, the less effective they are, like within minutes. The goal is to get the entire bag inside him within 6-7 minutes. It was quite a process. They won't unthaw the next bag until they he said he was ready for it.
They have him hooked up to heart monitors and also take his vitals every 3 minutes to make sure the body is handling it all okay. They told him that most everyone experiences flushes, discomfort, chest pressure etc but Todd didn't experience any of that. He had a moment of some face flush but it was super quick. They said he handled it amazingly!!
I had to laugh because he had the TV on most of the day, which isn't like Todd, but he was watching the TV series S.W.A.T. All the nurses were saying how they can't handle shows like that because it makes them nervous or have anxiety. Todd laid there so calmly staring at the TV and said, "Movies like this calm me." lol We all got a good laugh.
They told us that he should do well this weekend but come Sunday he will start to nose dive and early next week he will hit rock bottom. But, hopefully, it's not as horrible for Todd as they are preparing us for.
He truly is incredible. When we aren't at the hospital, he is doing all sorts of his natural modalities. From PEMF, Vagas Nerve Stimulation, Meditation, Grounding, Breathing Techniques and so many others.
He's just amazing. Strong and determined. One of our nurses asked him the other day what he was doing because he is one of the strongest guys she has seen come through transplant and he said:
(1) The medicine. The medicine did what it needed to do because it was the only way at this point.
(2) All the natural modalities have helped me with the side effects and kept me strong
(3) Positive Mindset. I don't allow myself to get down or go into negative head spaces
(4) Most important, My Savior and all the prayers on our behalf. They lift us and truly have healed me in so many ways.
I loved his response. It's a complete package. Honestly, we are so grateful for the prayers. We KNOW prayer works!! Thank you for continuing to pray for Todd and our family.
Unfortunately, this platform only allows me 1 photo. I have so many cool ones of the stem cells but this will have to do. It's her thrawing out the stems cells in a warm water bath.
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