The Bone Marrow Speaks!

Well part of the deal of donating my bone marrow to Mairéad was that she would give me (Clare) a chance to write something on her blog so here goes. I also requested peanut m & m’s with the green ones taken out and only red and purple skittles. These were delivered to my bed the evening before my operation, Thanks Stephen :-). I know my writing is not going to be anyway as good as Mairéad’s but I’ll give it a shot.

Mairéad hasn’t managed to write her blog for a while as she’s spent the last few weeks preparing for her bone marrow transplant and then trying to cope with all that goes on after the transplant. In the weeks leading up to the transplant she was at home so it was great for her to be able to sleep in her own bed, to eat non hospital food, to be able to sit outside in the garden and generally just be herself! We even managed a trip to see Fame, the musical, Thanks Emma! She was very tired this time round when she was out but I think she enjoyed just being out of hospital. She also had an awful lot of day appointments in hospital which either Mam, Stephen or myself brought her to. There was a huge amount to prepare for in the run up to the transplant. The doctors had to make sure that Mairéad was ready physically and make sure she had no infections etc. She also had to go to the dentist to check her teeth as an infection in your mouth could be very serious when you have no bone marrow and your immune system is practically non-existent. As well as getting Mairéad prepared I had to undergo a number of tests to make sure I was healthy and I could go under general anaesthetic. I also met with my consultant who had to be a different consultant to Mairéad's as we couldn’t be seen by the same person.

On the 6th September, Mairéad went back into hospital to start her part of the transplant. She had two full days of very intensive chemotherapy on the Tuesday and the Wednesday. For these days she was very tired and had absolutely no energy. It was very hard to see her like this as only a few days earlier she had been at home with us. The worst part of these few days was leaving her at night in the hospital. I would have loved to have wrapped her up in a blanket and have smuggled her out of the ward and brought her home, it was just so hard to leave her.

My part of the transplant began on the Wednesday when I headed into hospital. I was put into a ward with three other women who were all lovely. I have to admit that even though I have never been in hospital before (Thank God!) I wasn’t at all nervous. I was more overwhelmed by the fact that the whole thing was actually happening and I was so honoured that I could do this for Mairéad. The following day (Thursday) I was up showered and ready to go by half seven. The porter came to collect me at eight and off I went to the operating theatre. With regards to my part of the transplant I don’t remember a thing! All I can remember is waking up in the recovery room with one of the surgeons telling me that they were happy with the bone marrow and they were off to get it ready for Mairéad. The next thing I was heading back to the ward where Adam was waiting for me. In the meantime Mairéad had been transferred to St. Luke’s hospital where she had to receive her radiation. This was also another very intensive therapy. The purpose of the radiation and the two days of chemotherapy are to destroy every bit of bone marrow that Mairéad has. That afternoon when Mairéad had returned in the ambulance from her radiation my bone marrow was given to her through a drip through the line that she has in her chest. During this time my mum, Adam, Stephen, my aunt Dee were busy doing shifts between Mairéad’s bed and mine! It was a bit like the scene in Mrs. Doubtfire where Robin Williams is changing characters as he’s going from one date to another in the restaurant. I half expected to see one of them arrive at my bed with their plastic aprons on!!

The actual transplant comes at the end of three very long days which had Mairéad completely wiped out. She was on an awful lot of medication by this stage and she had very, very little energy. Therefore she was asleep for the actual event itself. I was determined however to get myself down to Mairéad to see my bone marrow going into her. However all didn’t go to plan with that idea! Because of the fact that my blood levels were so low on a couple of trips to the bathroom I realised that I wasn’t as mobile as I had hoped and fainted both times! Adam however managed to catch me on both occasions :-). The doctors and nurses who were in charge of me decided that a trip to Mairéad was definitely not on the cards. Thanks to Stephen though who managed to send me a picture on my phone of my bone marrow!!!

The days following the transplant are a bit of a blur to me as I was either in seeing Mairéad or at home resting. I think everyone in the family has been the same as we’ve all been going from home to the hospital and back again. To all of you who have sent cards, called, sent texts etc we really really do appreciate each and every one of them. There’s no chance we can reply to them all as there are literally hundreds each day but definitely keep them coming.

Now, fourteen days on, Mairéad’s blood levels are rock bottom again and she has practically no immune system again which means she can’t go outside her ward and she can only walk around with a mask on inside the ward. The next little while is a waiting game as we wait for her blood counts to recover and let the bone marrow settle into Mairéad’s system and finally begin to work. I know it will work as I’ve sent her my very best bone marrow and I’ve also sent all my love with it too. Xxx