Author Archives: Thor Bjarnason

Day 0 – Stem cell transplant

Today Nadia got stem cells. These cells came from cord blood. This means that some thoughtful mother donated her (or ‘their’ if you include the baby) placenta and umbilical cord to a cord blood registry, similar to one finally starting … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Day -1: Into isolation

Tomorrow is the big day. Although the last 2 days we were not in isolation, Nadia’s counts were so low that we were not allowed in the playroom if anyone else was in there. We made it a few times … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Day -1: Into isolation

Day -2: Last of the chemo, moving to isolation tommorow

Nadia had her last dose of chemo today. Good-bye fludarabine! She has started on an immunosuppressive called cyclosporine. The stage is almost set for the battleground that will be her body, where a new immune system from the donor stem cells … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Day -3: Another chemo down, one more to go, and more blood

The last two days Nadia has been getting 2 chemo drugs, fludarabine and cyclophosphamide. Cyclophosphamide might be the most potent of the chemo drugs. She got this drugs the past two days with the last dose today. One more day … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Day -3: Another chemo down, one more to go, and more blood

Day -5: Still full of beans

Nadia sings along with Rio: Today we had a pretty uneventful day, which is weird to say, bc Nadia still got a chemo drug, and still had to take 2 oral medications one to protect her liver the other to … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Day -5: Still full of beans

Day -6: Unleash the hounds!

Today Nadia had about 30 mins of chemo and about 1.5hr platelet transfusion (Thank You Donors!). The rest of the day she was unhooked from Ivy (her IV pole) and spent much of the day in the playroom. She certainly … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Day -7: One chemo down

Nadia has been handling this first round of chemo pretty well. It has been exhausting though. The drug takes about 8 hours to administer, and this whole time we are locked up in our room. And they take vitals every … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Day -7: One chemo down

Day -9: Will it be Bruce Banner or the Hulk today?

Tara and Nadia did not get much sleep the night of admission. Nadia was given her red blood cell transfusion (Thank you Donors!!!) and they checked her vitals every hour. Day -10 was hard. With lack of sleep, 10 hrs … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Day -9: Will it be Bruce Banner or the Hulk today?

Day -11: admitted

Nadia has been fighting for her life for a while, but today things stepped up a level. Nadia was admitted to Children’s hospital today, and had her first test dose of chemo. Full doses start tomorrow. Nadia made a grand … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Day -11: admitted

Day -13: some downtime

We had a nice, low-key weekend. Nadia has been full of beans as usual, terrible 2’s really put a parents patience to the ultimate test! We enjoyed the weekend of no appointments and even an entire PJ day. 🙂 We got … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment