Patience is a virtue...another birth day...it is called!

The day, that we have waited for since November 2011, is here!  Ralph has endured months of chemo and the effects.  The ride has been a roller coaster of physical, mental, and emotional stress!  We gained strength from our faith and the prayers and well wishes of friends and family!

In the past two days, he has received a year's worth of chemo to, hopefully, kill any trace of mutiple myeloma cells.  (Unfortunately, it also depletes the body of good cells, but he has tolerated that just as well.)  He is nauseous, but there is great medicine to give enough relief for him to relax and rest.  He is weak.  He is quiet.  Today, all medical staff wore gloves and cover-ups when entering the room. More machines are present. The staff's enthusiasm for the ability to have a sct is evident...a celebration!

At 10:24, his nurse began to hook up the machines to Ralph.  At 10:28 the cells were wheeled in in a small freezer.  The 15 minute protocal was very official and the frozen cells were guarded by 3 nurses who checked and rechecked and checked again that he received his cells. (My stomach ached as I feared something freakish happening to those cells before they got into Ralph's system.  I held my breath.) 

REJOICE!  After giving him a mint so that he wouldn't taste, at 10:39 Ralph received his own healthy stem cells that he harvested in 2009.  It only took 9 minutes to return the cells, through an IV, into his body.  They find their way back from where they came.  Those 25 minutes were very emotional...so much hope being poured into his system...life...a miracle!  (Not knowing why, but I always think of the Green Mile when I reflect on witnessing this procedure.  In that movie, the character sucks the illness out and releases it into the air.  In Ralph's case, all the good cells are released into his body.)

Before he gets better, he will feel much worse.  The cells will start to regenerate, in his bone marrow, immediately but will not be evident for 10 days.

Praise the Lord for the miracles we witness in the name of medical marvels!  Doctors, nurses, researchers, biochemists...you have been blessed...thank you for sharing your gifts!