Stem Cell Collection and Another Haircut

Last week’s chemotherapy and the hormone shots I have been having since last Thursday have been preparing me for the collection of stem cells (that will be used in my transplant).  I went to Princess Margaret yesterday to start the collection process.  They took blood and checked how many stem cells I had ‘mobilized’ in my blood.  There weren’t enough to start collection, so they sent me home.  Although slightly disappointing, this was to be expected.  The other 2 Multiple Myeloma patients that were on the same schedule as me were also sent home, so I was reassured that this was normal for the first day.

Today, day 2 on the collection schedule, I went back to the stem cell collection unit at Princess Margaret.  The stem cells in my blood were high enough to hook me up to the apheresis machine.  One IV in one arm to take the blood and one in the other arm to put it back in.  The machine was essentially a centrifuge.  I just sat there and watched as stem cells (just looked like blood to me) slowly collected in a bag above my head.  The worst part was having to sit still for 3.5 hours and not being allowed to nap (had to pump my right hand every now and then or the machine would beep at me).  During the collection, the nurse told me that I’d probably have to come back tomorrow to finish, based on me readings this morning. But at the end of the day, they told me they had collected enough and I was done – this was a nice surprise.

On another note, my daughter Claire had a special hair cut this week.  She had 12″ cut off and donated the hair to ‘Angel Hair for Kids‘, who make wigs for kids with cancer.  I thought it relevant to post here, so here she is with her donation and her new hairdo: