Peripheral Blood Progenitor Cell Collection

Try saying that five times, quickly! Otherwise known as stem cell harvesting, the procedure took place yesterday. I arrived at the hospital at 7:30. And by the time I was done it was 3pm. The procedure involves a retreive needle being inserted into one arm from the stem cell harvesting machine and a return needle from the machine being insterted into the other arm. This means you can't move...for six hours! The worst aspect of all of this? As you lie there in a hospital bed, unable to move your arms for 6 hours, you better not have to go pee! The second worst aspect? The inability to scratch! I experienced both these aspects!!!

My next trip back to the hospital is for a clinic appointment October 4. Then I get a PICC line implanted the following week, October 10, with the actual stem cell infusion taking place Thursday, October 11.

There's an excellent, informative site that I found from the Mayo Clinic at http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stem-cell-transplant/CA00067 that takes you through the whole process. It may be a bit much to read but it makes the whole process I'm going through very clear and understandable.

Book: The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories by H.P. Lovecraft

Music: Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart

Comments

30 Days of Photos III #4 Sour

Check out Ziva's Inferno for the rest of today's photos.

My Back Pages - November

I know, I know, I know I should have reported in before now. But sometimes real life just gets in the way. I attempted 5 books in November. I say attempted because I slapped a big DNF (did not finish) on Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon. I just can't seem to get into this guy. It's the second or third of his I've given up on, Not so the other four, starting with a biography of Stephen Stills called Change Partners. This followed by a hilarious biography of the guy responsible for National Lampoon called A Stupid and Futile Gesture - How Doug Kenney and National Lampoon Changed Comedy Forever. I ended the month reading yet another biography, this one of the man behind Rolling Stone magazine,. It was called Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine. A fascinating read. So last month I hit the magic number 50 I'd imagined for myself back in January. If I roll this month into my yearly total I'm at 54 books. And I still hav...

30 Days of Writing - Day #1 - Cheese

Well, here we go again folks. As if it weren't enough that I knocked myself out in April participating in 30 Days of Photos, now dear Nicky and Mike over at We Work For Cheese have corralled a bunch of us suckers into a 30 Days of Writing exercise. Yeah, I know. I must have stupid written backwards on my forehead. I don't know how they figured it out. They would have had to look in my mirror to realize it. Anyhoo, the first day's theme is - surprise, surprise - cheese. And here are the internet imbeciles Nicky and Mike managed to sucker into to this little exercise: Well, first off there's me! Once you've read my post you can visit: Mike and Nicky , Cheryl , If I Were God , Katherine , Laughing Mom , Linda M , Malisa , MikeWJ , Sandra , Leeuna and Still Unfinished . Okay, who cut the cheese? Well growing up in my house it was usually my mother. She prepared and served the food and the knife ...

nonamedufus

Search This Blog