The Next Step

The picture is of the roses and calla lilies that Mrs. Bauer sent to me during my last inpatient stay. They were so beautiful and made my stay here a bit more pleasant. Not to mention I got a million compliments on them! Thanks Mom B - you are an angel.

This week has been mostly non eventful so far. My latest 'fun' side effect of my chemotherapy is that my eyelashes are falling out. Did you know that they really do play an important roll in your life? They keep dust and stuff out of your eyes. Well with the lack of them and the remaining ones falling into my eyes, I look like I've been on a crying jag - and I haven't! So they started some eye drops for me today and so far its been better - so I am not winking at you --- its the lack of eyelashes :)

Well onto the topic of this post. My next step. I found out recently that my next step is to have my stem cells collected. I was surprised that it was happening so soon but at the same time if this is the time and it moves things forward to being in remission quicker... bring it on. So I got the low down on the procedure and I'm a bit more nervous about this then I have been at anything else they've thrown my way.

I will be discharged from the hospital for this cycle tomorrow, Friday. On Monday I start daily Neupogen injections. These are given to stimulate your bone marrow to produce stem cells. Normally I get one injection of a drug like this to stimulate my bone marrow to make cells and I suffer from bone marrow pain for two days. So getting it daily makes me think there is going to be a lot of bone marrow pain in my future and that prospect is daunting.

The next step which starts the following Monday is the actual stem cell collection. Anita will bring me to the clinic at 7:15am and I will have a blood test done to see where my stem cell levels are. If they have achieved the desired level I then get to go to my favorite place in the whole world --- Interventional Radiology -- to have a central line placed. They use this line to collect the stem cells. Its called apheresis, and its a lot like dialysis... the take blood out slow and filter the cells they want out and then give me the rest back... so I get an in and out kind of set up! This goes on daily for up to six days. I won't have to be there that early every day at least but it will be five hour days.

Side effects of that are being really tired and sometimes needed blood and platelet transfusions. I also cant drive that week at all. So I will be asking my friendly chauffeurs for their help. I think my rides in, in the mornings are covered by Anita and Cyndee but there will be afternoons that I will be begging rides home. Thanks everyone for always being so willing to help.

The week after that I will get a PET scan and the doctor will decide at that point if we go ahead with the transplant or if I need some more chemo first. But any way I look at that I'm getting an extra week off between treatments so I'm taking that as a good thing! I have to take the good things where I can.

So there we are people. I'm a wee bit apprehensive about the next steps. I worry, I feel guilty that I'm not more "here" for my family. But we will get throught it and I know that our friends and family are always there for us.

AND as a final note... Hey Sarah... I beat you in a new post girl! Come on... lets see it... post baby post!