It's been about three years since the start of all this and it's harvest day. Of course it's the coldest day of the year and there were even snow flurries blowing about as we headed off to the hospital. It's very early as well, so it was cold (never got above freezing), windy, dark, with snow blowing around. Not an auspicious start. Of course we got there, and hospitals are so sophisticated today that they had valet parking. They took Jackie back (and my money up front). Then it's time to wait. Since we were so early I was the only one in the waiting area for quite a while -- a very weird sensation.

After a while others showed up, and a little while after that the doctor came out and told me that the harvest went great, and that Jackie would be out in a little while. By this time, I knew better. Jackie never came out of anesthesia very easily. So back to waiting,

If we thought she was sore when they took the sample of marrow, Jackie learned what a sore hip really was. Apparently they drill a small hole in the hip and then suck out the marrow. For your own protection they use a centrifuge to spin out what they want to freeze and then put the rest back. That took a while of course and they were nice enough to let me back in to see her while that went on. They told me that patients are often cold after this treatment and she was back there under several blankets and a heat lamp. Now I knew why it was the coldest day of the year.

When she was done I got the car from the valet parking and got it heated up and tried to get her in as quick as I could, but she froze anyway. I wonder if it's a sympathetic reaction to your marrow sitting in liquid nitrogen. We went home and tried to warm up, at least the flurries were over and the sun was out.

Jackie had rows of scars on her back under her waistline. They almost looked like weird vampire marks.