Chapter 140
Finally the day of the transplant arrived and the four of them set off for the hospital. AJ went by, picked up Tom and Krystal so they would all arrive together. Once there they were admitted, they were told to remove their clothes and put on gowns. Doing this they laughed at how funny they looked. Climbing in bed the men came into the room and got up on the beds with their wives.
"Lets cuddle while we still can," Krista suggested.
It seemed like a good idea so all four cuddled down in bed and waited to see what would happen next. Before anything more could happen, AJ's cell phone buzzed and he excused himself to go and take the call, which was coming in from his office. AJ returned to the room to tell that he had to go to the Hill for a meeting with the SECNAV. He had tried to get out of it, but Sheffield was insistent. AJ promised to return as quickly as he could.
Not long after he left, the door opened and in walked Dr. Vossen. "You shouldn't be on the bed with her," he said to Tom
"There're newlyweds and it's hard to stay out of bed with each other," remarked Krista.
"Well, be that as it may Sir you need to get out of that bed. Ladies are we finally ready to discuss the actual bone marrow transplant?" Dr. Vossen grinned.
"Not really, doc, our sex lives are much more interesting...well mine is..." Krista told him.
Tom started laughing...he loved having this nut in the family...he just hoped that his old buddy was up to keeping up with her!
"Your sex lives may be interesting to you, but I believe your life to be much more interesting to me right now. So if everyone doesn't mind- they need to put your IV's in since I hear the nurses coming down the hall with it now. While they're hooking you up, I'll explain the procedure to you and answer all your questions," replied Dr. Vossen.
"The transplant will begin tomorrow morning. Yes, nurse, go ahead and hook up Krista to her IV while I'm talking. We'll come and get you tomorrow morning at 5:30: AM you'll be given something to help you relax. In the operating room you'll be given either regional or general anesthesia. In this case it will be regional anesthesia. The procedure will last one to two hours per person. That is assuming everything goes according to planned. The marrow is removed from the back or the pelvic bone using a sterile needle and syringes. In this case we are going in through the back and into the spine. First we will be taking Krystal and drawing out marrow from her spine, hopefully with minimal leakage as possible. Then we will take that marrow and place it into Krista's spine and watch both sisters for infections. They'll both need to lay flat of their backs for the rest of the day to prevent severe headaches. I need not tell you that this is a painful procedure and that there are severe side effects such as the headaches and bone and muscle pain. You will suffer fatigue same as with the medicine Filgrastim. Then there are always the more severe side effects but they are not as likely to happen. Dangerous infections, paralysis and in some cases brain damage can occur. The worse of course is death, but all those are so rare that we only mention them to make the patient aware that there is a minimal possibility. Anyone have any questions?" asked Dr. Vossen looking as his watch.
"No questions, but remember no pain meds for me I brought in my oils for the anesthesia. Krys you're welcome to go that route with me too if you like."
"I don't know, I think I'll go the old fashioned way. Might be a good way to test your medicines, Kris. I can only hope that the old fashioned ones are the best," frowned Krystal remembering the tea.
"If you're sure, Krys, you can always change your mind at any time...with the oils any help is better than none."
"We'll see Kris, if the old fashioned ones don't work, then I'll yell for your oils and anything else I can get my hands on."
"Does anyone have any questions before I leave?" asked Dr. Vossen.
"Have you ever been minted, Doc?"
To be continued…