Once the twice daily injections were complete, I received the stem cell harvest on Thursday morning. I arrived at the unit early for the final injection and then was taken for apheresis at 7am. During that process they withdrew and replaced my blood volume 10 times, during which they were able to extract my stem cells. so off to the lab they went for counting and processing.
By the end of the day they were able to tell me that they had enough cells and would be working on them on the Tues next week, and that it was advised to wait otherwise if the chemo was started too early it could cause Leukaemia.
Therefore I had a choice whether to stay around from the Friday to the Thurs, or to go home.
The choice was easy, the family would be returning from Pheachland on Saturday.
So with the help of a very good friend, James and I flew overnight Friday night and returned Saturday at lunchtime, knowing that we had time to surprise the family on their return.
We made good use of our time, met friends for lunch, met friends for a run, met friends for a quick cuppa, attended the Highland games, visited Banff for a family walk in the Fenlands, before going out for an early dinner to celebrate our wedding anniversary and squeeze in a sneaky dose of iv vitamin c. We were also lucky enough to take the kids to their first day back at school.
So all in all a busy condensed time, before leaving the house at 5.30 am for the 10 am flight to Toronto and continuing on to Washington DC.
Arriving at admissions at 12 midnight, getting to bed at 1 am and then returning to the unit at 6 am for blood work and doctors round.
The rest of the day was spent catching up with sleep, getting groceries from Bethesda and catching up with episode 2 of "Outlander".
This morning I am back to the unit at 5.30 am to be connected to fluids for hydration in preparation for the first dose of Cytoxin and over the next 2 days looking at to 2 hrly bladder emptying, to prevent toxicity to my bladder.
So fingers and toes are crossed, prayers have been sent, determination is in place. So we will see how the third time goes.
By the end of the day they were able to tell me that they had enough cells and would be working on them on the Tues next week, and that it was advised to wait otherwise if the chemo was started too early it could cause Leukaemia.
Therefore I had a choice whether to stay around from the Friday to the Thurs, or to go home.
The choice was easy, the family would be returning from Pheachland on Saturday.
So with the help of a very good friend, James and I flew overnight Friday night and returned Saturday at lunchtime, knowing that we had time to surprise the family on their return.
We made good use of our time, met friends for lunch, met friends for a run, met friends for a quick cuppa, attended the Highland games, visited Banff for a family walk in the Fenlands, before going out for an early dinner to celebrate our wedding anniversary and squeeze in a sneaky dose of iv vitamin c. We were also lucky enough to take the kids to their first day back at school.
So all in all a busy condensed time, before leaving the house at 5.30 am for the 10 am flight to Toronto and continuing on to Washington DC.
Arriving at admissions at 12 midnight, getting to bed at 1 am and then returning to the unit at 6 am for blood work and doctors round.
The rest of the day was spent catching up with sleep, getting groceries from Bethesda and catching up with episode 2 of "Outlander".
This morning I am back to the unit at 5.30 am to be connected to fluids for hydration in preparation for the first dose of Cytoxin and over the next 2 days looking at to 2 hrly bladder emptying, to prevent toxicity to my bladder.
So fingers and toes are crossed, prayers have been sent, determination is in place. So we will see how the third time goes.
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