In Surgery

Looking relaxed before surgery.

Ryan is in surgery right now. This has definitely not gone as expected and we're both feeling quite a big more nervous that we thought. The surgery is going to be more complicated than it was originally explained because they need a lot of marrow for this particular patient. They are going to take the maximum amount of marrow from Ryan. Almost 2 liters (think of a 2 liter bottle of soda). The bone marrow harvest will take about 2 hours (twice what we thought) and then he will be in the recovery room for about an hour. Ryan will receive a blood transfusion of his own blood, because they are removing so much marrow. The surgeon was surprised that Ryan only had one unit of blood to give back to himself. He should have had two, but there wasn't time for him to donate two given how quickly they wanted to schedule this procedure. There will be two incisions (we were originally told there would only be one). They will go in through those two incisions about 30 times. That means thirty puncture wounds into his hip bones. It doesn't sound pleasant does it. This wouldn't be so involved if he were donating to a child or small patient. Recovery is going to take a bit longer that expected too, but Ryan is having a great attitude about it. Just pray that things go according to plan from here on out!! He will definitely be staying in the hospital tonight (we won't be going back to the hotel). I'll keep you posted.
Ready to save a life!
In the operating room!

Thanks for praying! Keep it up!!