I GOT MY PROPERTY BACK TODAY. That’s right folks, half my frozen stem cells were put back in circulation this afternoon. A fascinating process that involved liquid nitrogen, a water bath, my new pal the IV tower, and my old pals the danglers.
This is day 0 in the transplant sequence, since yesterday was day -1. The nurses who handled the entire procedure wrote “Happy Birthday” on the white board opposite my bed, since it is truly the moment of birth for my new, improved immune system.
MY FIRST HARVEST was pretty productive, with in the neighborhood of 5.6 million stem cells collected. You need a minimum of 3 million for a single transplant procedure, so that’s not bad.
But the docs need me to bank enough for two procedures — one for now and another for later. That leaves me 400,000 short of the 6 million cell minimum target, so I’m back at the clinic this morning for a second and final round of collection. Based on my good performance yesterday, this particular goal should be in the bag. Continue reading In the Bag