I now have more than 6 million stem cells ready for my transplant. It turns out my guess was pretty accurate on Monday—I had 3 million and change—and I had to go back Tuesday to have more stem cells collected.
So I had some grilled cheese and set off for Manhattan, but not without completely forgetting the Neupogen injections. I came home, took my shots and then rushed to the stem cell collection room. It was a full house, with all the beds taken, so I had to wait to get hooked up. Then my platelets were low, so I couldn’t get a heparin injection, which apparently moves things along. So this collection took a little more than five hours, and I was given heparin at the end.
I also got some yogurt to keep my calcium levels up, and the nurses shared some of their candy with me. It’s a pretty happy place, considering your blood is being drawn out, spun around and put back in for hours. The only painful part is waiting, and the nurses do their best to make that painless.
I plugged my laptop in and did some work, but I felt as if I was moving at a snail’s pace. A nurse explained that the Neopogen boosts white blood cell production, and the bone marrow is so focused on that that it lets other stuff slide — like platelets for clotting and red blood cells.
That explains why I’d been so sleepy. On Monday, I came home took a nap, and then went to bed early and slept for 10 hours. I woke up Tuesday refreshed but by hour three, I couldn’t work anymore and decided to read, and then I slept for at least an hour.
A social worker from the hospital also came by to see if I had any questions and to make sure I would have adequate care after the transplant. I was a little sleepy, so I feel as if I didn’t have any good questions. Also, my appointment list just had a name on Monday, and I didn’t check to see who I’d be seeing. So I’d gone to my dental appointment ready to discuss my feelings. (I know my regular dentist, so I guess I can discuss my concerns with her if I would like both a check-up and to talk about my well-being.) Most of my questions were answered by the online session last week with a transplant doctor and a volunteer who talked about going through an autologous stem cell transplant for Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
TMI alert: Whenever I blow my nose, my right nostril often produces blood. It’s happened after both ICE treatments and the doctors said since my platelets are low, I’m prone to bleeding. To add injury to this insult, while I was wiping up the dried blood from under my nose, it must have cut my skin, so I now have a very visible cut under my right nostril. It now beats my most stupid injury surpassing the time I chipped my tooth while drinking a fancy Bloody Mary. (Felled by an olive pit.)
I still have a giant, swollen monster arm. I’m worried that once my platelet counts go up, it might just burst open. I assume that’s never happened. In the meantime, I will continue to smell like menthol patches and not bend my arm.
