688MOM
06-15-2010, 10:53 PM
I apologize for not writing as soon as we got home however our youngest daughter graduated High School so we were a little busy. Anyway, I will get right to the good stuff. We arrived in Cologne, Germany after a long 10 hour flight and Amanda was in severe pain. I haven’t seen her hurt that badly since her injury. We just could not afford 1st class at an additional $8,000.00 per person so we flew economy and were at least able to get bulk head seating where I could rub her leg and back. She was in pretty bad shape when we arrived to Germany and slept the first full day. I was able to get her up to walk about 1 block from the hotel and turn around because of the pain.
Amanda had bone marrow removed on Monday the 31st of May and that went fairly smooth; other than they had to puncture a couple of spots in order to get the 20 vials they needed. That night she became very ill; almost as if her body was going into shock. We spent the next few days in our room with her sleeping, waking just long enough to eat a little bit. Our hotel was just amazing.. Anything we needed, they were on it. I didn’t think we needed Amanda’s wheel chair, but she wanted to try and see some of the sights so we thought we could see if the hotel could find us a rental. That evening the concierge brought up a brand new wheel chair and informed me they purchased it because they felt they needed to provide their customers one if needed. Happy for that; however it did not work for us as the streets and sidewalks are all cobbles and the bouncing killed her.
Wednesday at 9 in the morning was the big day. We were excited, terrified and exhausted from the anticipation. They took her to the transplant room and within 10 minutes she was in the recovery room. They told us that she had 95.5% vital stem cells and they transplanted 5,030,000 little workers. They took me in and I sat at the end of the bed and my 1st reaction every time I’m near her bad leg is to touch it and to my complete amazement I felt warmth. Her leg has been cold and clammy with a dull gray color. I pulled the blankets back and oh my gosh it was pink, not just pink but a healthy pink. And it was actually hot to the touch. I was actually alarmed, I guess because nothing was suppose to happen for at least 30 days. When the Doctor came in I asked him and he said with some there is noticeably improvement immediately. He looked at her as he felt her leg and said “this is good yeh??” Every question was ended with a “yeh”. Amanda was released that afternoon at 3:00 pm and we went downstairs to wait for the taxi. We were standing in the front doorway when she collapsed as I caught her. I got her to a chair and asked for help. They came running and we got her back upstairs to the clinic. Her blood pressure was 81/54 and she was pale with no color anywhere. The doctor came in and gave her 2 large sugar pills and then checked her sugar level. The highest we could get it was 87 and that was after they gave her juice. We finally got her to where she could sit in a chair without tilting and the doctor told me to get her back to the hotel, get her fed and to bed. I called the hotel and the taxi was there before we got downstairs.
That night was miserable for her; she had severe pain in her tail bone and a massive headache. Her ears were ringing and her vision was blurred. Her tail bone didn’t hurt if I pressed on it, it was a deep hurt. This has been continuous since the transplant off and on. That night as she lay in bed I told her to wiggle her toes (just to see “if” maybe). OH MY GOSH!!! The only toe that has ever moved was the big one and that was just a small grip movement…. Her little toe and the 1 next to it moved, not a lot but it frickin moved!!!! I could not believe it. When I showed Amanda she said “it’s always done that”. At first that angered me to think she didn’t see what I did; she said her leg was always the pink color and she said her leg wasn’t always cold…. Then I sat there looking out the window while she slept and it dawned on me, she doesn’t want to get her hopes up only to be let down “if” it didn’t work… We were to fly home on Tuesday and I was getting nervous for the flight home. I called the airlines to see if they had any 1st class seats available, they did and it would be an extra $8,000.00 each. I asked if there was a discount if the seats were still available at the gate and they said no. I could not imagine how she would feel after this flight as it was 11 hours. I guess we will take it day by day.
We were asked to stay longer than the normal 4 days after the transplant and I’m so happy we did because Monday morning we awoke and she had a fever. I immediately called and they told me to get her to the hospital. Within 10 minutes we were there and they immediately tried to stick her with an I.V. They could not find a vein and told me she was severely dehydrated, which was odd as we both had been drinking water by the gallon.. I know as I walked to the store daily and bought it as well as other liquids. Amanda has always drunk so much liquid that I never had to worry. All I can think of is that most of the water was mineral water. Did that have something in it that prevented her from becoming hydrated? Doc’s told me that we had to hydrate her as well as give her other meds to get her system back in control.. Four hours later we were headed back to the hotel with Amanda feeling somewhat better. I once again immediately walked to the store and got a larger supply of water and we spent all night drinking and drinking.
Tuesday morning we awoke at 4:30 a.m. and headed to the airport. Amanda was not feeling very well, I could see it in her eyes and as we walked toward the counter the lady asked if we were the Andersen’s and I said yes. She informed us that the airplane had at least a 2.5 hour delay and we would miss all of our connecting flights. Amanda broke down in tears. I got her to calm down and found her a seat then headed back to the counter. To make a long story short, we found different airlines that held the door open on 2 in order for us to board and we arrived home only 5 hours late.
The last few days since we have been home I seriously see a difference in Amanda. Her eyes are brighter, her skin is clear and pink, her right ankle that drops is a little stiffer going side to side and those toes; those amazing toes are moving. We checked out the video we did before we left and those babies are moving. Amanda’s organs are doing better and headed in the right direction. As for the tail bone pain, it’s still there coming and going. We believe the stems are in there making her nerves better. We are anxious to see what is to come within the 30 days after transplant.
Thank you again for all of your support and I will keep writing as soon as I can.
Amanda had bone marrow removed on Monday the 31st of May and that went fairly smooth; other than they had to puncture a couple of spots in order to get the 20 vials they needed. That night she became very ill; almost as if her body was going into shock. We spent the next few days in our room with her sleeping, waking just long enough to eat a little bit. Our hotel was just amazing.. Anything we needed, they were on it. I didn’t think we needed Amanda’s wheel chair, but she wanted to try and see some of the sights so we thought we could see if the hotel could find us a rental. That evening the concierge brought up a brand new wheel chair and informed me they purchased it because they felt they needed to provide their customers one if needed. Happy for that; however it did not work for us as the streets and sidewalks are all cobbles and the bouncing killed her.
Wednesday at 9 in the morning was the big day. We were excited, terrified and exhausted from the anticipation. They took her to the transplant room and within 10 minutes she was in the recovery room. They told us that she had 95.5% vital stem cells and they transplanted 5,030,000 little workers. They took me in and I sat at the end of the bed and my 1st reaction every time I’m near her bad leg is to touch it and to my complete amazement I felt warmth. Her leg has been cold and clammy with a dull gray color. I pulled the blankets back and oh my gosh it was pink, not just pink but a healthy pink. And it was actually hot to the touch. I was actually alarmed, I guess because nothing was suppose to happen for at least 30 days. When the Doctor came in I asked him and he said with some there is noticeably improvement immediately. He looked at her as he felt her leg and said “this is good yeh??” Every question was ended with a “yeh”. Amanda was released that afternoon at 3:00 pm and we went downstairs to wait for the taxi. We were standing in the front doorway when she collapsed as I caught her. I got her to a chair and asked for help. They came running and we got her back upstairs to the clinic. Her blood pressure was 81/54 and she was pale with no color anywhere. The doctor came in and gave her 2 large sugar pills and then checked her sugar level. The highest we could get it was 87 and that was after they gave her juice. We finally got her to where she could sit in a chair without tilting and the doctor told me to get her back to the hotel, get her fed and to bed. I called the hotel and the taxi was there before we got downstairs.
That night was miserable for her; she had severe pain in her tail bone and a massive headache. Her ears were ringing and her vision was blurred. Her tail bone didn’t hurt if I pressed on it, it was a deep hurt. This has been continuous since the transplant off and on. That night as she lay in bed I told her to wiggle her toes (just to see “if” maybe). OH MY GOSH!!! The only toe that has ever moved was the big one and that was just a small grip movement…. Her little toe and the 1 next to it moved, not a lot but it frickin moved!!!! I could not believe it. When I showed Amanda she said “it’s always done that”. At first that angered me to think she didn’t see what I did; she said her leg was always the pink color and she said her leg wasn’t always cold…. Then I sat there looking out the window while she slept and it dawned on me, she doesn’t want to get her hopes up only to be let down “if” it didn’t work… We were to fly home on Tuesday and I was getting nervous for the flight home. I called the airlines to see if they had any 1st class seats available, they did and it would be an extra $8,000.00 each. I asked if there was a discount if the seats were still available at the gate and they said no. I could not imagine how she would feel after this flight as it was 11 hours. I guess we will take it day by day.
We were asked to stay longer than the normal 4 days after the transplant and I’m so happy we did because Monday morning we awoke and she had a fever. I immediately called and they told me to get her to the hospital. Within 10 minutes we were there and they immediately tried to stick her with an I.V. They could not find a vein and told me she was severely dehydrated, which was odd as we both had been drinking water by the gallon.. I know as I walked to the store daily and bought it as well as other liquids. Amanda has always drunk so much liquid that I never had to worry. All I can think of is that most of the water was mineral water. Did that have something in it that prevented her from becoming hydrated? Doc’s told me that we had to hydrate her as well as give her other meds to get her system back in control.. Four hours later we were headed back to the hotel with Amanda feeling somewhat better. I once again immediately walked to the store and got a larger supply of water and we spent all night drinking and drinking.
Tuesday morning we awoke at 4:30 a.m. and headed to the airport. Amanda was not feeling very well, I could see it in her eyes and as we walked toward the counter the lady asked if we were the Andersen’s and I said yes. She informed us that the airplane had at least a 2.5 hour delay and we would miss all of our connecting flights. Amanda broke down in tears. I got her to calm down and found her a seat then headed back to the counter. To make a long story short, we found different airlines that held the door open on 2 in order for us to board and we arrived home only 5 hours late.
The last few days since we have been home I seriously see a difference in Amanda. Her eyes are brighter, her skin is clear and pink, her right ankle that drops is a little stiffer going side to side and those toes; those amazing toes are moving. We checked out the video we did before we left and those babies are moving. Amanda’s organs are doing better and headed in the right direction. As for the tail bone pain, it’s still there coming and going. We believe the stems are in there making her nerves better. We are anxious to see what is to come within the 30 days after transplant.
Thank you again for all of your support and I will keep writing as soon as I can.