Day 0 - and we're off!

As of 2:00p, Frank's stem cells are on their way through the IV and into their new home - wahoo!  Thank you all for your messages, notes, thoughts, prayers, pictures, and the like over the last few days - my mom has really appreciated each and every one.

Yesterday was a bit of a rough day, but she was feeling much better this morning.  She had a shower ("I need to be clean for this new body"), and did some physical therapy in her bed.  She got the lipstick on again and we had a little photoshoot.  The most-Sile moment of this morning came when she told me she didn't think she would be losing her hair and was disappointed.  When I asked why, she responded, "Because it doesn't look very good and if I'd known I was keeping it I would have gotten a haircut before I came down here."

Looking at some pictures of Una this morning:

There was a seemingly long wait for the various pre-meds, but once they arrived, everything seemed to happen quickly.  Frank made it about 15 minutes ahead of his stem cells - I asked him if they looked familiar - which were greeted with much fanfare.  Well, really just the three of us and the two nurses saying "woohoo" but I think that counts.

Before they were "spiked":

So now we wait.  This will take about 90 minutes - they are monitoring her closely, taking her vitals to make sure she does not have an adverse reaction.  And after that, we'll be watching for engraftment (Frank's cells taking over in her body), her blood counts to rise, and for any signs of infection or Host Verses Graft disease.  There's a long road still ahead, but a big big milestone today!