Apheresis

Leaving for Stanford

Since last Wednesday we have been waking up early to go and do labs to see where my white blood cell count is at since having that high dose of Cytoxan chemotherapy about a week and a half ago. Over the weekend we had to go all the way down to the Morse Ave Kaiser to have my labs done since Roseville wasn't open. The part that wasn't open is the Oncology/Infusion Treatment Area. I mentioned how on Saturday I had a big jump from 0.3 on Friday to 1.1 on Saturday. Well, I had an even bigger jump from Saturday to Sunday. Sunday my count was 6.2! I didn't know before we got the call from Stanford to tell us to come in today. We had just gotten home from doing labs, stopping at Old Navy & Walgreens and were about to eat while waiting for my friend Julie to get to our house so we could rest. Eric was able to hear Vickie, the nurse who called, on the phone while I was talking to her and both of us, at the same time, said "Holy crap!" when we heard the numbers. Vickie told me that I could stop wearing my hepa filter mask except when I go to Stanford and am around the construction and inside the cancer treatment building since there are people sicker than myself there. I was also told to stop taking 2 of my medications and that I could go back to eating anything. We could eat at restaurants now. Well, at least until the next step.

 Sitting in the drivers seat with daddy on a rest break from driving

 Goofy time with mommy on a driving break

Ready for bed 

As soon as I got off the phone yesterday with Vickie, Eric & I needed to decide if we were going to wake up at about 3am to drive to Stanford in the morning or to leave last night so we could sleep in a little longer. My appointment to do labs was at 7:15am. We decided to drive last night and we got a hotel room for us and Eric's parents. It worked out very well. We had a great room and Eric and I left while his parents and Brandon were able to sleep in and stay in the room until check out time. After labs, which went really fast, we had a few hours to kill and went and walked around Target. Then we stopped at Starbucks for some coffee. Since we didn't have anything else to do or anywhere else to go, we went at sat in the shade in the car in the parking lot of the Stanford Shopping Center. We were there for about 15 minutes when we got the call to come back for the apheresis. For the stem cell collection. Luckily, we were only about 5 minutes away.

Ready to go! All hooked up and starting the extraction

So sleepy, always by my side

Once we got back to the Infusion Treatment Area and they hooked me up and got the process started, it was just after 10am. The process of extracting my stem cells was going to take about 4 hours. So, there I sat. Connected to this machine that took my blood and spun it really fast to make the stem cells fly out into the collection bag. After that, my blood was sent back into my body. In essence, it was an oil change. Sitting there having my blood taken out of my body and put back in, I got really exhausted. I could barely keep my eyes open. At the same time, it was tough to fall asleep and be comfortable because this process was making me freezing. I ended up having 4 blankets and 2 heat packs on me to keep me warm. I think I was finally able to really sleep for the last hour. It wasn't a true sleep, but at least I was able to rest.

Sleeping with 4 blankets and 2 heat packs

Vickie unhooked me, flushed my catheter and as she was putting together her paperwork and items to be sent off for me, she said she believes we got enough for two transplants today. But, either way, she would be calling us in a few hours (it was just after 2:00pm at this point) to let us know if we had to come back in tomorrow or if we were free to go home. During all of this, I sat there, trying to get feeling back in my legs to walk decently to get back to the car. Laying in a reclining chair for 4 hours without getting up having your blood taken out of your body and put back in and not eating or drinking anything makes for one tired useless body. Another nurse brought me some apple juice and graham crackers to help get some sugar back into my body. Finally, we were able to leave and go check-in to the H.O.M.E. Apartments.

We got to the apartments, checked-in, got everything inside, had some lunch and Eric & I were resting when we got the call just before 5:00pm. Vickie called to let us know that we were FREE to go home! That we got more than enough stem cells for two transplants. Now, I am not sure of what the units are, but all we needed was 4 and we got 9.4. That is WAY more than enough for two transplants. Did I mention that my white blood cell count today was at 17? That's an even bigger jump from yesterday than it was from Saturday to Sunday. My body is fighting this nasty disease.

So excited to get to go home early!

Now, we are having a relaxing evening. Just sitting in the apartment, playing with Brandon, visiting with Eric's parents and will leave casually tomorrow to drive home after the morning rush hour traffic. It feels good knowing that I don't have any doctors or lab appointments until June 1st when we come back to Stanford to start the final portion of my stem cell transplant. The actual transplant to happen on June 6th. I'm scared, excited and nervous, all at the same time. But, I know everything will be fine. This is going to put me into Complete Response for a long time. Or at least I hope for a long time.

Well, until my next post, thank you for reading and following my journey. This is the easiest way to let everybody know what is going on.