That's the stem cell in the flask circled in red.
That's the doc preparing the stem cells. He's defrosting it i think. Doc's got a bluetooth headset on his ear. Very the technogeek!
The bag of stem cells. The red color is not blood. It's the preservative that's used to freeze the cells. The original color of the cells is yellowish clear, if i'm not mistaken.
A closer look.
Me looking like a scrunched kermit trying to smile for the camera while feeling extremely nervous.
Thanks to my brother, who made all of this possible.
Day +1 has been fine so far. I couldn't sleep last night, worrying about the dose of Mtx i'm getting today. Mtx is a drug used to control GVHD (Graft-Versus-Host Disease). The nurses kept telling me since last week how the little dose of Mtx can cause very painful mucositis. I got very nervous last night after hearing all those warnings, and kept waking up every few hours thinking I have mouth sores. Maybe I'm approaching this the wrong way. Most of my energy here is wasted on worrying about the pain that is to come, which so far hasn't come yet. I feel mostly uncomfortable of the "extreme weather conditions", the tubes that inhibit my movements, etc. However, pain is something I have not yet come across since I came here (other than the Hickman line insertion on the 4th of July). So far it has been test of my patience and adaptability, rather than how much pain I can withstand. So, from now on, I will stop worrying about the damned mucositis and deal with it when it happens. Hopefully, by some luck and power of God, it won't happen at all.
