Stem Cell Harvest

The past several days since my previous post have been pretty much uneventful.  I followed the doctor's mobilization instructions (explained in previous posts) and remained bunkered down in the hotel due to the severe cold weather.  I did experience intense bone pain Tuesday evening that kept me up most of the night, but after adjusting my pain meds on Wednesday I was able to control the pain and get some rest that evening.  The bone pain is a sign that the bone marrow is "revving" up (working overtime) – in my case to produce new white blood cells.  My lab work indicated I was probably Neutropenic for a short period on Tuesday morning and then my white blood cell count started its recovery later in the day when I started to experience the pain.

At 08:30am I reported to Northwestern to have a vascular catheter placed in my neck to facilitate the large volume of blood cycled through the stem cell collection machine during the aphereris process.  The process of inserting the catheter consists mostly of prep work and usually takes approx 30 minutes.  However, due to hospital delays, I didn't get seen by the doctor until approx 11:00am and the catheter was completed around 11:30am. 

After the catheter was complete I ate lunch and proceeded to the blood center to begin the stem cell collection process.  Once I arrived at the blood center they nurse drew my blood and told me to come back for the results in 90 minutes.   When I returned the nurse told me my white blood cell count looked very good and hooked me up to the stem cell collection machine (see picture at bottom of blog).  Once hooked up, it took approx 3 hours to obtain a sufficient number of cells.  The amount of time a person is hooked up to the machine varies based on a person’s weight and the number of stem cells required for their treatment regimen.  The minimum number of stem cells needed for my treatment regimen is 2 million.  During the collection I sat in a recliner and tolerated the procedure fairly well.  I felt an increase in fatigue, minor tingling in my extremities and felt a little cold throughout the process. 

My collection finished at approx 4:45pm and my stem cells were sent to the lab to ensure a sufficient number of stem cells were collected before they removed the catheter.  At approx 6:30pm the results were back and I had a whopping 20 million stem cells in the bag!  It took the nurse approx 10 minutes to remove the catheter and after my vital signs were checked I was cleared to return to the hotel.

Overall it has been a very successful stem cell mobilization & harvest phase.  I'll rest tomorrow and head back to Hawaii on Saturday morning.  The objective over the next 10 days is to stay healthy, get sufficient rest and prepare myself mentally for the transplant. 

Next update will occur during the transplant phase which begins on 23 February. 

Thanks for all the support and prayers!