It’s time to CELL-ebrate!!!

Cue the music- it’s Transplant day!! At 11:11 on today, March 11, ZiLong received his edited stem cells!  Thanks to the miraculous scientists who created this therapy, Zilong can look forward to (we hope!) a life free of transfusions!

The whole process only took about half an hour- two small packets of cells were thawed individually from their storage bin kept cold with the help of liquid nitrogen (a cool -174 c! Then they were pushed slowly through his IV, while he sucked on a lollipop to help cover the taste, and within about half an hour it was done.  Within an hour after that, he was in the hall playing soccer with child life!

Now his room smells like creamed corn! :) Some people smell garlic, I think it smells like creamed corn!

Today’s numbers:

WBC: 3.7 (down)

ANC: 1500 (down)

Hemoglobin: 10.2 (down)

Platelets: 162 (down)

These numbers will continue to drop before the new cells officially engraft, though they said the new cells will find their way to his bone marrow within a day or two, it just takes them some time to “set up shop” in the bone marrow.