Chapter
35
Brian's parents and his brother, Harold, arrived an hour later. They
looked haggard with worry. Brian called a nurse and told her to page Dr.
Benson. He explained to his family about the testing. They all agreed to be
tested.
Dr. Benson came down a few minutes later. He took Brian's family down
to be tested.
An hour later, he came back with the test results. Brian had everyone
crowd in his room so they could hear the results.
"Unfortunately, neither Mr. Littrell, nor Harold could be donors.
They both have Type A blood, which is incompatible with Type B. Mrs. Littrell
is compatible though." Jackie smiled and put her arm around Brian.
"I think we should use her as a donor," Dr. Benson continued.
"When will the transplant be?" Jackie asked.
"I won't be for another week or two. We have to start giving Brian
immune-suppressant drugs to knock out his immune system. That way, he won't
reject the new marrow," Dr. Benson explained.
He talked to them about the process for a little while longer and then
left.
***
The next day, Brian had a small operation to remove his bone marrow. It
went fine.
Two days after that, Brian was moved into a sterile room. Everyone had to
wear a special outfit to go in, including a gown, mask, hat, and gloves,
because Brian was not supposed to come into contact with any germs. Dr. Benson
started him on immune suppressant drugs.
Meanwhile, Dr. Benson ran many tests on Brian's mother to make sure she
was a good donor.
***
A week later, Brian was ready for the transplant. Jackie had checked
into the hospital the night before. She would have an operation to remove some
of her bone marrow that morning. Brian would get it through an IV. He would not
need to put to sleep.
A nurse wheeled Jackie down to Brian's room before they took her up to
surgery.
"I love you, Babyduck," she said, hugging him tightly.
"I love you too, Mom," Brian said, hugging her back.
"Thank you for doing this for me."
"Brian, you don't need to apologize. I would give my life for
you," she said. "I'm glad I can do something for you." They
hugged again, and then it was time for the operation, which took about an hour.
Brian's father and brother stayed with him as they waited for the
operation to be over and the transplant to begin.
Finally, a nurse came in with a bag of red liquid. "This is
it," she said, attaching the bag to Brian's IV.
"How's my mom?" he asked.
"She did great. She's sleeping now," the nurse said. Brian
was relieved. He settled back and watched as the new healthy bone marrow
dripped into him.
***
