Ok so Monday 20th June was Harvest Day........well the staff on day case have been eyeing up my veins for weeks and were having some discussion regards whether my veins were sufficient or I would need groin access...haha the male matron looked at my arms and said hmmmm you may have to shave your minge! brilliant! another reason to be home! only in the UK...
Anyway the lovely haematology nurse got a cannula in my weedy vein in right cubical fossa for the return and then popped a solid larger guage metal cannula in the left to extract the blood ( I was super brave btw, well that and the fact that it didn't hurt as much as I anticipated) The blood test in the morning to see if I had sufficient stem cells in circulation needed a value of 20 to continue........mine was 131 (oh yeah) so the 10 days of injecting myself in the belly had worked! Had to sit still (chore) for a whole 306 minutes while my entire circulation went out and back in 3 times!
Got some side effects from the anticoagulant, it depletes your calcium and I felt very odd, quivery, starting from my face and moving right through body - yuk. I was given a glass of milk but that didn't help so I had calcium infusion and then a magnesium infusion also. Have to say I didn't feel normal til it was all over but was manageable. I called the unit when I got home and the result was that I had enough stem cells for 4 transplants!! check me out!
I have a CT scan tomorrow (fingers crossed it's gone!) and then 2 weeks off! Then.........4 weeks in hospital for chemo, transplant and recover! Happy Days :)
Nice update Sim, keep us all posted dudette, x Cuz Paul
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