a NEW Lease on Life
Phew!
This has been a long journey but
2/3rds has been covered with the help and blessings of Family and Friends.
Yesterday new life was given to me by the transfusion of Stem cells from our
daughter Srishti.
So Yay, Happy Independence Day to India and Happy Raakhee to all loving brothers and sisters.
So Yay, Happy Independence Day to India and Happy Raakhee to all loving brothers and sisters.
Phew! This has been a long journey but
2/3rds has been covered with the help and blessings of Family and Friends.
Yesterday new life was given to me by the transfusion of Stem cells from our
daughter Srishti. So Yay, Happy Independence Day to India and Happy Rakhee to
all loving brothers and sisters. The hospital staff were congratulating me by
saying Happy Birthday, as it indeed is a new birth for all my blood cells. The
last 4 weeks had been hectic in preparation for Day ‘0’, first by killing all
my blood cells via Chemotherapy and finally by a whole body radiation before
the transplant. The transplant in itself was pretty painless for me but not so
for Srishti since they had to extract more than a liter of her bone marrow.
That is quite a painful process for such a large harvest and leaves the person feeling
sore. The recovery period for her could be from 3-7 days. She is bearing the
pain well and is back home with her sons and Vivek who as always held the fort
while she was at the Hospital. Sonali was constantly shuttling from the 5th
floor to see me and the 3rd floor where Srishti was recuperating
from the anesthesia. We were very lucky to have Kajal drive up 520 miles from
South Carolina to add to our already full force of Framily here.
Now we have to wait
and see how my body accepts the transplanted foreign cells while they settle
down in my marrow and go about producing the healthy blood cells. I am at my
most susceptible and am extremely vulnerable to any bacterial, viral or fungal
infections and have to avoid contact as much as possible. Our house is going to
be studded with disinfectant wipes and gels, masks and gloves. Now starts the
60 days of daily trips to the Johns Hopkins hospital as they monitor the growth
of blood cells and keep checking for any resurgence of the diseased cells.
There are 2 more heavy dosages coming up of Chemo via IV to ensure that. This
would be followed by oral meds that will suppress my immune system from
fighting the graft cells. All in all it is another year of meds punctuated with
periodic check up visits. 
Kudos to the team at Johns Hopkins where all the staff from Oncologists, other specialists, nurse practitioners, nurses, techs to cleaners contributed to my well being by caring for me in the most professional way. I am actually scared that I might miss my visits to Hopkins after 2 months ;)
Can’t thank enough all my friends who continuously sent their wishes and blessings via Facebook, Whatsapp, Messenger, Texts and emails. I sincerely apologize for not having been able to respond individually to each one of your missives. So here is one big THANK YOU to all from me, Sonali, Srishti, Vivek and Didoo from Downunder
Rooting for you always!! From Washingtonian’s ratings for your restaurant to now for a full recovery, speedy I can see it is not going to be. Love as always from Dileep and Vaija
ReplyDeleteI am glad sudhir all went well and hope for a speedy recovery for Shrishti. I am sure a matter of time and you will be singing "Main aur meri tan hai" again.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the updates. Hope this ordeal gets over soon.
ReplyDeleteBIG hug and BIG RESPECT to Shristi.
Glad to hear the procedure went well and wishing you and Srishti a speedy recovery!
ReplyDeleteVery inspiring and humbling!
ReplyDeleteWishing you and your daughter, Shristi a steady recovery.
It's an amazing team effort, much admiration for Sonali too!
Very best,
Rohee
Who knew that a report on bone marrow transplant would be so inspiring and heartwarming to read! But this is not a doctor's documentation, this is about a friend getting a new lease of life thanks to his beloved daughter, who is willingly tolerating this pain. Kudos to ALL of you, Sudhir, Sonali, Srishti and Vivek!. Best wishes for Srishti's recovery and for your continued improvement. Keep the spirits up. Based on your description, this is a marathon, not a sprint.
ReplyDeleteWe are all lucky to have you in our lives, and also happy that a world class hospital like JH is close to us.
Rooting for you, pulling for you, praying for you.
Anu and John
What an inspiration! You guys are in our thoughts and prayers for fully recovering and returning to your lifestyle. So good to hear the teamwork of doctors and family involvement behind all the good progress. I have captured all of you updates in one single page for people to read and keep getting inspired: https://rolls.bublup.com/lifeisbeautiful/best-wishes-to-sudhir-seth. See you soon!
ReplyDelete