Day 0: The Cells are In

I never imagined I'd be sitting on my couch at home posting on Day 0. This morning's infusion started around 9:30 am, when the nurses brought in the familiar bag of my brother's cells from yesterday. To avoid a reaction, they give Benadryl prior to infusion, and that pretty much knocked me out so I slept through the infusion. Apparently it went smoothly and my vital signs did not change from the beginning to end. I slept until around 2:00 pm this afternoon, when I was told that I could go out on pass for a few hours if I felt like it. I'm still pretty "swacked" from this morning, and now have 0.1 white counts, so dozing to the U.S. Open is about the excitement I'm experiencing. But it is exciting.

I'll probably fall asleep typing any more, so I'll keep this one short. The cells are in, thanks for the support, now the waiting begins!

Day -1 My brother's day

I have a day off chemo before tomorrow's infusion of his cells, so I just have some immune suppression drugs starting today, a lot lighter than other days. My counts have plummeted to 0.2 white count, which is expected but always a little scary, and my liver function tests have continued to fall, still abnormal, but heading in the right direction.

Really, today is all about my brother and his amazing donation for me. So I managed to take my pump and breakfast down a floor to where he was getting hooked up to the apherisis machine. He had a catheter inserted into his jugular vein, and I can tell you it's not pretty...luckily for him the position it is in does not allow him to see it! They were just starting to draw the blood out and run it through the spinning machine when I arrived. It's a pretty amazing process that separates the extra stem cells floating in his blood from the other parts of his blood, all based on a tiny difference in the weight of those cells. The remaining blood is circulated back into his veins. To collect enough of the cells, the process takes around 6 hours usually, before they will close up the incision made in his neck and let him go.




Of course, my crazy brother was able to continue doing mortgage deals, all through his blackberry! It probably helps him pass the time and takes away some of the discomfort and pain he has in his neck and when swallowing. He's pretty tough! He also said the bone pain he's been feeling the past couple of days is already subsiding, so it shows his body is doing the right things.



I'll probably pop down and see him again shortly and make sure he's doing okay, and how the cells are collecting....get a picture of what I'll get in me tomorrow! Thanks for all the wishes for us both...it certainly helps to have the support and energy flowing.