Stem Cell Harvest Day 2 - August 17 2011

Up at o'dark thirty again and I drove myself again this morning from Greeley, Colorado to the University of Colorado Hospital at the former Fitzsimmon's Army Post location in Aurora, Colorado for my 7:30 AM appointment in the Apheresis Department (2nd floor of the Anschutz Cancer Pavilion).

Jani packed my rolling personal assistant again today. The bottom cooler has cold drinks and yogurt. The middle cooler has bread and snacks. And my laptop computer and with cooling fan tray grace the top. Works very well and I have everything I need throughout the day as I'm tethered to the stem cell machine.

At the Apheresis Department, I was greeted with smiles by Jessica and Martin. Jessica got me started on the apheresis machine. She drew blood first, but we didn't have to wait for the results like yesterday to get started - so, by 7:30 AM, I was hooked up and collecting stem cells. However, the blood test results came right back. My Stem Cell CD34 value was down to 41 from yesterday's 56.5.

My white blood cell count was up to 35.9 from yesterday's 28.8

 My blood type is A Positive.

Unfortunately, the prediction of between 4 and 5 million stem cells during yesterday's Day 1 Stem Cell Harvest turned out to be only 3.01 million stem cells. So, I have a ways to go to get to 10 million~

jm at UCH Apheresis Department Day 2 of Stem Cell Collection August 17 2011

I had a slight reaction after I was hooked up to the machine this morning. My lips tingling and my eyeballs felt jittery. I told Martin and he immediately gave me a bolus of intravenous calcium and very soon after, I felt fine.

Dana Godec, RN spent a long time with me going over the Stem Cell Transplant inpatient guidelines. I felt like I was in school again~

I was surprised with a visit from my cousin, Diane Dynia Miller, today while I was donating my stem cells. She is the oldest daughter of my father's youngest sister (both still living). We had a nice visit and she made me laugh which is imperative in this adventure. I missed getting Diane's picture because Jessica was giving me 2 more Neupogen injections (780 mg total) in my left arm.

By 12:20 PM, my stem cell collection was over for the day. Jessica looks pleased with the collection - won't know the number of cells until tomorrow morning.

Cassie arrived from ClinImmune to take possession of my stem cells and transport them to the lab in the cooler.  Cassie told me that my stem cells from yesterday are now safely frozen at their facility. Cassie is so nice. Jessica and Cassie have to read a lot of numbers and verify everything before Cassie leaves with the stem cells.

Cassie packed my stem cells in a blanket with a thermometer to make sure the temperature is maintained on their way to the lab.

I'm returning for Day 3 of Harvest tomorrow morning.