Day Zero

Well it was back to my home for the week this morning. I would love to say Holly was delighted to see me but she barely raised an eye when I arrived.

She had a comfortable night but has now got mucositis. This is an infection in the mouth and is a common side effect of chemo. It is very painful so therefore taking medicine is proving to be somewhat of a challenge. We have managed to take the most important medicines, but the rest have been relegated to the bin! The docs are ok with this and hopefully her mouth will improve in the next few days. If not the other option would be a nose tube to put the medicines through.

The stem cell transplant started today. Holly was very underwhelmed by the whole thing but I found it fascinating. She had 3 bags today and will have more on Tues / Weds and Thurs. This is due to the fact they managed to get quite a lot of cells and they are restricted to how much they can put back in per day due to the preservatives used. The bags are removed from the deep freeze container and then very quickly defrosted in a bath (shown in the photo). They then have to be put into her straight away and it takes 15mins. Holly had to be very closely monitored throughout and after the transplant. She was fine and pretty much dozed throughout it.

I was warned prior to the transplant that I would notice a strong smell of sweetcorn due to the preservatives. OMG it is overwhelming. Everything Holly does smells of sweetcorn, from her wee to her breath! This can last for a week, or maybe longer. I think it is safe to say that sweetcorn is very definitely off the menu for the forseeable future.

Even though she is very uncomfortable, everything that is happening is very common. We have been very lucky before this that she has had very little side effects of chemo. She is still being very brave and takes everything in her stride. It is difficult to see her so quiet and subdued. Never have I wished more for a bit of backchat and stroppiness!

Holly would like to say a huge thank you to Jane, Kev and their lovely kids for her present. Her eyes lit up at the huge box full of balloons, they were amazing. They made her smile so a big thank you from me too. The docs were also very impressed as they were all standing in the room when they were delivered.