What a Big Day!

Day 9

Not a lot of sleep last night, least so far I think.  Last night of stem cell injections at 11pm and 3am and having the neck catheter in didn't make for finding the most comfortable sleeping positions.  Stayed up watching a movie to get me past the 11pm injection - August Osage County - great acting, not the most feel good movie though I must say!  That took me to past midnight when I could have a quick FaceTime with the kids to say Hi on their first day back at school after holidays.

Got a couple of hours in and woke at 2.30am - Thinking, Thinking, Thinking about tomorrow - it's Apheresis, that's a big day in this process that's for sure!  Very exciting and daunting.  Bet's on with Matt as to who can produce the most stem cells in a day - 2 million is the goal and tongue is on the menu for the looser (not that I'm going to eat it but don't tell him that!!)..  It's just a bit of fun as I'm not sure of if there is any rhyme or reason as to who gets them in one day and who doesn't, just seems to be a bit of a luck of the draw..




The Machine!

3am injection, still can't sleep, finally get a couple of hours between 4.30 & 6.30am.  Dr Fedorenko said he would be here around 8am and I wanted to have a cup of tea (and a wee) before it was time to put on the nappy and not move for 5 hours..  The nappy (Tena is my preferred option), is just for backup since you can't move - safe bet I'm thinking.

Dr Fedorenko is right on time at 8am with the machine that's ready to collect my stem cells.  Paul arrives nice and early as well so he's here for me the whole time (very happy me).  All set up and he's back at about 8.45 to start it up.  No moving for about 5 hours - probably already said that!  Things seem to start off okay but then machine starts beeping, Paul has little panic, Dr F comes to check it out, no problem.  This happens about 3 more times over the next hour, seems to be a small hiccup that is rectified easily and then the next four hours go by. 


Bye Emma!

 
Emma is leaving us today to head back to her family.  It was so lovely to spend some time with her here and I'm so excited for her to get home and begin her recovery.  We will definitely see each other again x

Apheresis is described on my HSCT page if you'd like to read up on the process that happened today - pretty fascinating!

Thank goodness for my Kindle!

 My results

It's a long time to stay still but Paul is my beck and call boy for the day and keeps me fed and watered, he's a keeper!  And I manage to while the time away on the computer, read and watch some TV..  By the time the five hours are up I'm so ready to move and wee!!  Yes the nappy was a good back up but the brain definitely isn't ready to use it!



Time to blog!

1.45pm all finished, unhooked, Dr Fedorenko takes my blood pressure which is good and I can have a rest until some steroids after lunch.  Yes, finally time for that wee!!  sorry maybe to much information today on that subject but it's all a part of it..  Water needed, very thirsty and ready to relax and have a nice sleep for a couple of hours...after all I have had 8.2 litres of blood removed and put back. Dr Federenko said that I'd have around 4.5 litres of blood, so all of my blood has been cycled twice!



So that's what 1.6M stem cells look like

Numbers should be in around 5pm so drum roll please while we wait...................................................................................!!

And the answer is 1.6 million -oh well a little short of the 2 million target, but Dr F tells me I'm a champion anyway. Round 2 tomorrow!