Today marks the transition to a new phase of treatment. I'll be going through the process of Apheresis, stem cell harvesting. I feel a little bit like the Borg in Star Treck. Anyway, I hope they get a several million cells today and tomorrow. It's an all day process. They hook-up to my catheter and pump my blood through a machine which spins the blood in a centrifuge to separate the stem cells from the rest of the blood. Then they pump the blood back into my artery through the other side of my port. I think the main effect from this should be fatigue. They keep doing it until they get enough cells for several transplants.
We're back at home, no harvesting of stem cells today, my numbers were to low. They gave me two more shots of Neupogen and we'll go back tomorrow morning to see if they can do it then. My stem cells need to be 2.0 or more, they were only 0.6 today. The nurse said the increase needed can happen quickly - we'll see.
Up a little early on the computer I see. Neupogen and carry on. Hope for higher numbers tomorrow.
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Catherine
Thinking of you.... and hoping your counts are higher tomorrow..
ReplyDeletelove,
Sister Marian
I'm cheering on the "stem cells" team... hope they kick butt tomorrow! Good thoughts to you.
ReplyDeleteKate
Thinking good thoughts and sending good vibes for a quick increase in stem cells.
ReplyDeleteThinking of you,
Love,
Jennifer