Stem Cell Haresting

 On February 15 and 16 I entered the oncology outpatient clinic at UCSF to harvest stem cells. The process was not near as bad as my mind had made it out. Isn't that typical for me?

On Sunday, February 12 I gave myself shots to develop stem cells in my body. I did this by myself. I was oddly proud of my own power to do this thing my brain made so hard! I did those shots each night through the 16th. 

On the afternoon of the 15th I also went to get the catheter in my neck. Again, I was so freaked out, but it was smooth. They allowed me to walk into the operating table. I got up on the bed and they did an ultrasound on my left and right side to determine the best placement. Given I already have a single port in my right chest they went to the left side. I laid on my right and they numbed me with lidocaine. Basically the same as at the dentist office. Next thing I know they are pushing and say "great, it's done". Seriously? That was it? Crazy!

That night was super hard to sleep, though. Having two tubes hanging out of your next on the side you usually sleep on is not easy. But I did ok. 

On the 16th I checked into the clinic again and sat on the bed for 6 hours while the blood went out of one tube, into a machine and then blood came back into me via the second tube. My nurse (Jackie) was amazing. She had the gentlest voice.  We talked San Francisco, Disneyland, kids, alternative health practices (meditation, oils, etc). It was nice. 

Then it was maybe over. They had to send my stem cells to the lab to count if I had enough. I was allowed to leave, go get some lunch and a breath of fresh air. When we returned we were met by Jackie with two huge thumbs up. We had enough stem cells. I could get the catheter removed and go home! 

The catheter being removed was, again, way easier than I anticipated. No numbing. No cutting. It was odd. In fact, the most painful part was getting the tape off of my skin. That hurt! After that painful part, Jackie snipped the sutures. I felt nothing. Then it was time to pull the tubes. She said, "OK now, I am going to get a good grip of these tubes. Then we are going to hum. Keep humming with me until I say stop". She got a grip, counted to 3 and we hummed a nice monotoned line. Within a few seconds she said I could stop. The tubes were out. Now she just needed to hold the wound with gauze to stop the bleeding. So for 15 minutes I laid on the bed, and she held my neck. 

That's when things went sad. As she was holding my neck a lab managers came to say that the freezer is not working correctly and they aren't sure how many stem cells might have been lost. WHAT?!?! Literally 15 minutes earlier and we cold have just scheduled me to come back tomorrow to get more. But now the catheter was out. I have to wait 5 days to find out if this will proceed or be delayed another 2 weeks. I was not happy.

Five days later we got the call and we had enough. More than the recommendation from the US Cancer Society (200,000), but a little less than what UCSF prefers (300,000). I had 279,000. So we proceeded. I checked into the hospital on Friday, February 24th. Within 2 hours I had the arm catheter, blood work taken, and was getting settled in for the next 3 weeks. 

On the 15th and 16th Rick and I were able to enjoy some time alone. He is not as in love with my SF, but I think even he enjoyed his day. It was sunny and warm. We were able to see the bridge, walk along the coast and eat yummy food. I love that he is with me for all of this! I could not imagine going it alone like so many here in the hospital.