UCLA

Went to see Dr. DeVos at UCLA on Friday and it went pretty well. Any fear that I had about transplant are pretty much gone, it really doesn't seem like it is going to be that bad. Basically what happens now is that they are going to send me for another PET scan to see how much the chemo has shrunk my enlargements. Then I will do one more chemo and then we start harvesting my stem cells.

To give you a little back ground on harvesting...what they use to do is put you under and take 100 aspirations out of each of your hips. What they do now is give you some pretty nasty chemo which flushes the stem cells into your blood stream, then they take take your blood (lots of it) and "wash" it...meaning, they keep the stem cells and freeze them for use later on.

Once we have enough of the stem cells (this may take multiple attempts) I will be admitted into the hospital and given some more nasty chemo which is going to kill all of my white, red and platelet cells (this is the reason I am admitted into the hospital - no blood = no immune system!). Then they give me a day of rest and after that they thaw out the stem cells and infuse them back into the ole body :o) They do this as a blood transfusion and the cells graft to my bones. All of that is about a 10 day process. Then I get to stay in Hotel UCLA for about another 2 weeks while I get stronger...until my immune system is good enough to go home. Dr. said that it would be about 3 weeks of hospital stay time..depending on how I do.

So far, they are pretty impressed with the way I have handled the chemo regimen that I am on. It is called ICE and evidently it is pretty damn brutal and most of the time patients are hospitalized when being given it. This is also a good thing because since ICE is so brutal, they may not have to give me such a nasty chemo to get my stem cells...and I should tolerate whatever they give me pretty well. Sooooo THAT is why I was the chosen one to get cancer twice...because I can handle it! LOL

So far, that's all I know. I will get a call from the transplant coordinator and I will get to go on a tour of the facility and be given a book of stuff to go over prior to transplant...Dr. says I will be an expert before I even show up :o)

Steelers are winning...YAY!

xoxo - Joni