Post #43 Tomorrow is transplant day!!!!

Today was harvest day for Ed; At approximately 9:45am the process began. Ed was hooked up to an apheresis machine where his blood was removed from one arm, ran through the machine to separate out the stem cells and then the other components of the blood were returned through the other arm. A normal collection of stem cells can take in excess of 4 to 6 hours on the first day and in some cases require more time on a second day. Ed's stem cells harvested in 3 hours and 12 minutes. The staff were very impressed with the speed at which his process ran. A special thanks to Margy for being Ed's caregiver during the harvest.

Words cannot express the gratefulness we feel for the gift of life Ed is providing. Thank you Ed.

As for Bill, today was a better day than yesterday. His body is still adjusting to the effects of the chemo and he still has fatigue. We are excited about tomorrow, day zero. This is Bill's new birth date and new beginning.