Last week, we asked Dr. Uberti if Dave was going to feel as crummy as he did with his first four rounds of chemo. He replied, “crummy-er.” Of course, being a Superman prototype, he flew through the first four days unscathed pretty much. Nothing stopped his workout routine as he continued his bodybuilding regimen. Yesterday was as Dr. Uberti warned, and today proved to be the “crummy-er.”

Total body irradiation this morning left him whipped, followed with side-effects that we were warned may appear. The afternoon was even crummier, but his body cooperated just in time for the transplant. It went exactly as planned and we watched in amazement that this procedure will be the cure. It arrived in a cooler, was hung like an IV bag, and entered through his triple lumen in his chest. It only took 25 minutes, which is much quicker than what it took for the donor to give.

Two hours later, he had a few side effects that the nurses and nurse practitioner said are normal. They jumped into action, took Superman’s cape off and grounded the big guy in order to let these foreign stem cells acclimate to their new environment. At the time of this posting, he is doing better and is resting comfortably.

The next five days will be rough and we continue to wait until the engraftment, or signs of new stem growth begins. Generally, it takes approximately 10-14 days before this happens.

We did celebrate the first day of the rest of his life, and the 10th floor nurses declared this his new birthday – 10/10/18. What a way to receive gifts twice a year, huh?