Harvesting

Tuesday morning I went in and had another port put in, this one is for the harvesting and the transplant. They told me that they were putting me in sedation, rather than general anesthesia so I may feel pulling and hear people talking. Well, they took me into the room, I moved from the gurney to the bed, they put the oxygen mask on my face and I woke up to move again. I asked them what they put in my O2 and they laughed and said nothing but oxygen...I called them liars! Hahaha From recovery, they took me to the pheresis department and I started my harvesting. They need to collect 2 million stem cells and I found out this morning that I produced 1.86 million on my first shot!! So, we did more harvesting today and are sure that we got it all, so I am done with that step. YAY!!

Those dark tubes have my blood in them going through the machine and keeping the stem cells, then pumping the rest back in me.


Cheese!


The final result - that bag is full of the stem cells that are going to make me better! Amazing that they come out of me first, just to save me in the end! Weird.


Now, we are back at the hotel waiting for the confirmation call that I don't have to go back tomorrow. The only problem is that I have an appointment with the radiologist on Friday so I am stuck here until then - unless I can convince them to see me next week when I see the doctor. If I can do that, then I'm outta here for a whole week before moving back for six.

Light the Night news:
I have signed Team Joni up for the Light the Night walk on October 22, 2010. Last year we made $4317.00 in only six weeks - can you imagine what we can do in 10 months! I am setting the team goal at 10K and I know we can do it!

Here is the link for anyone that wants to donate or join Team Joni and walk with us this year:

http://pages.lightthenight.org/ocie/InlandEm11/TeamJoni

This year we will have more time to do fundraisers and I already have a few in mind :o)

Gotta get ready for a fire drill at the hotel - UGH!!

xoxo - Joni