Stem Cell Collection a Success

Here’s the latest as of today... Friday the Thirteenth

Yesterday was stem cell collection – day three. The short version is that Don had a really good day with 6.05 million good stem cells collected, for a three day total of 11.57 million. The goal was 10 million. This means there is enough for two transplants! No more 5-hour long stem cell collections.

The stem cell collection process is pretty mundane. One is connected by two of the “lumens” sticking out of the chest to the collection machine. Don was not at all mobile. Laying in bed that long gets uncomfortable. Plus one either has to be on good terms with a bed pan, on plan ahead.

The night before last was a long one. Don’s incision site continued to leak blood. Don was up much of the night dealing with that, staying over night again at the hospital.

To compensate, yesterday Don slept during part of the stem cell collection. The machine sort of chugs along and the sound is similar to being in a train. When he woke up Sami taught him a few ukulele chords. Don and Sami strummed “Ain’t Misbehavin” and Cici, the Red Cross nurse danced to the music. Don observers that ukuleles are neat because they are so portable and cute as well!

The stem cell harvest is over and Don is relaxing in his penthouse suite

Following the stem cell collection, Don and Sami made another gurney excursion through the bowels of Providence hospital (asking occasionally, “are we still he Oregon?”) Dr. Gibson (the catheter placement surgeon) met us in a little procedure room, where he the area with a shot, cleaned the incision site and sewed a “purse string” set of stitches around the place where the catheter enters Don’s body and pulled it shut. Sami stayed for the 15 minute operation. That sewing job effectively stopped the bleeding.

So, we are now in maintenance mode until the high-dose chemo and reinfusion happens, soon after Christmas. Maintenance means we visit the Out-Patient Infusion office at the Cancer Center three times each week to get the line flushed and the dressing replaced.

It may take Don a while to get used to three lines and valves dangling on his chest. They complicate dressing, undressing, and bathing. The apparatus should not get wet, and Don doesn’t want them to get tangled in his clothes. How to sleep comfortably is being worked on.

Before closing, we want to mention that we thought both of the Red Cross employees that did the stem cell collection were really great. Mike was there on day one, Cici did the collection on day two and three. Cici was a kick! She was professional and thorough in her procedures, but all the while she was kind and warm-hearted, and easy to tease and get giggling. You can almost say that we had fun. She called the collection machine “the albatross,” in a positive way.

The bag with the dark pink fluid hanging over the collection machine contains Don's stem cells. At the end of each collection day another Red Cross employee would show up with a little ice chest take the bag and transport it to Red Cross headquarters where it will be stored on liquid nitrogen.

Don wants to take this opportunity to thank Sami for her endless help and morale support, from being a second set of ears, to tying shoes and washing hair, and chasing down many cups of coffee at the hospital, and especially being there with him through all of this.

Don ends this entry by saying that he now feels a little more like a cancer patient.

Cheers!