This morning started out great...I slept all the way until 6:30! This rarely happens, as I am usually wide awake at 5:00, so this was a treat! I was not sure what time my blood draw appointment was suppose to be, so we decided to get there at 8:00. I figured we would have to wait for the shuttle to get us, so we went to the lobby at 7:30...Low and behold, the shuttle pulled up right as we walked out there!! Score #2 for the morning! Got to the hospital and found out that my appointment was at 10:15, but they took me back early...score #3! It was at this point that I hit a little hiccup in the process.
So, the nurse took me back to draw the blood and asked me if I have a port, I said yes and showed it to her. Personally, I think that if they just have to draw blood then they should do it through my arm...and here is why.... They have to still stick me through the skin with a needle that goes into the port, and it hurts because they have to kinda push hard to get it in there. At my regular oncologist office, they will numb it for you first...not here - they just jam it right in there. Then they have to pull it out, which hurts equally as bad.
Anyhow, she accessed the port and NOTHING! Normally, they flush it and then suck back a little blood to make sure I have "good blood return" but nope, not this time! She had me raise my arm, cough, lay down, turn on my side and bend forward. she flushed it three times, tried to use heparin and nothing was doing the trick. She said that I could have a shot of medication the would take up to an hour to work...so I said "Can't we just use my arm?" Finally, she agreed, pulled the needle out and sent me to someone else to draw the blood....which worked like a charm, the FIRST time....hahahaha All of this with the port worried me a bit, thinking that this is the start of my body not cooperating - soon I learned different :o)
The reason for the blood draw was to make sure that the chemo and neupogen shots are working. They needed to make sure that there are enough stem cells in my blood stream to start harvesting tomorrow and they also needed to make sure my white cell count was good. I got the call about an hour ago and I am a ROCKSTAR!!!! Not only do I have enough stem cells in my blood - I have produced OVER DOUBLE the number that they wanted to see!!! And my white cell counts are SUPER HIGH at 19!!! Score #4 for the day...woo hoo!
Now that we know I am ready, I have to be at the hospital tomorrow morning for surgery. They are putting in the double line port and this time they are knocking me out! YAY...last time was kinda creepy being awake. From there the pheresis nurses will come get me to go start harvesting. Lastly, I meet with the radiologist that will give me the radiation starting on the 18th. I will know Wednesday morning how much I harvested and whether I need to do it again Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Lets hope we get it all in one shot and I can go home Wednesday for a whole week....Keep those fingers crossed. So far with the double production, it sounds promising but I am not holding my breath.
That's it for now, I just wanted to share the good news with everyone!
p.s. Polly, I have been wearing my angel every day since I got here - she must be working!
xoxo - Joni
No comments:
Post a Comment