Day 0 to Day 8

So, Day 0 was the big day! I had two final sessions of TBI (radiotherapy), and then at 5pm I started to receive my new cells. The doctor said that they had managed to get quite a large amount of bone marrow from the donor, which was good news. Receiving the cells took only around an hour, and I did not react badly at all - even managing to tuck into a burger and chips whilst it was happening! It was basically like receiving a bag of blood, which I have had to do many times before, but this was much more exciting - I even got a lovely card from Anthony Nolan. I was so happy through the entire thing; I honestly can't repeat enough times how grateful I am to my donor for giving me this second chance of life and I really hope that one day we can meet and I can tell him person.

I would love to tell you all that once you receive your cells you are miraculously cured, but unfortunately it doesn't work like that. After people receive their cells their blood counts continue to drop, due to the effects of the TBI and chemotherapy, and it is only after a couple of weeks that the new stem cells start 'engrafting' i.e. they basically start to reboot your system so you can begin to get better. It is only by about Day 100 that I will really be allowed to return to a normal life, but I am hoping to be out of hospital just before Christmas. Until then though, I will have to remain in 'isolation', which basically means I can't leave the ward.

So, from Day 1 onwards the side effects of TBI really started to settle in. This basically affects every level of your mucus and digestive track, from your nose, to your mouth, down your trachea, and out the other end. The worst of all of this has been my mouth. To begin with my tongue was simply coated, but then my tongue and cheeks became very swollen, and in the past couple of days it has become incredibly painful to swallow and I have ulcers all over my mouth. I basically feel just like this lovely hamster, but definitely don't look anywhere near as cute.

I am being given various forms of pain relief to help with my mouth, some of which I swallow, and I also have a line that runs under the skin of my tummy to give me a constant supply of pain relief. From Day 5 onwards I have also been receiving a laser treatment in my mouth which helps promote healing. This is a relatively new idea that comes from South America, but it does seem to be working to some extent, so hopefully it will mean that my mouth will recover more quickly. So a lovely guy called Seamus, or as my Dad likes to call him 'Dental Vader', has been popping in to laser my mouth everyday.

Up until Day 5 I was managing to keep my movement up by doing laps around the ward. However, during that night I started to suffer with a high temperature, and it became increasingly clear that I have an infection. This is nothing really to worry about; it was pretty much inevitable that it would happen at some point, as I literally have no immune system at the moment. However, it's still pretty rubbish for me as it means lots of antibiotics and lots of feeling very tired. They are not 100% sure of the cause of the infection, so I have had a chest X-Ray and blood tests, and we will see if they get any results. The good news is that now they do seem to have my temperature under control and I am feeling slightly better. 

On Day 7 they also discovered a virus in my bowel, This meant that I had to receive a bunch of someone else's antibodies, like a blood transfusion, to try and get rid of the virus. I also received platelets for the first time (which are the blood cells involved in clotting the blood), which was interesting - I did not expect them to be yellow.

So, basically, it has been a very busy few days! I just want to say a huge thank you for all the support I have received so far; you are all amazing people. I still have a very long journey ahead of me, but the good news is that yesterday my consultant officially told me I had 'reached rock bottom' - so the only way is up right?!

Laura xo