Collection Day

Day two of collecting stem cells went GREAT! We arrived early this morning to find out from today's bloodwork that my body's responding excellently to the Neupogen. Yesterday, we collected 5.5 Million stem cells with my white blood cell count at 53.5. My CD34 count(actual stem cells) was 0.06, which is considered medium, so getting over 5M cells was terrific. My platlets yesterday were low at 52, which is actually good because it meant the machine could run faster with less risk of a clot forming in the machine.

Today's blood results were outstanding because my white count was up to 97.9, which is HUGE. My CD34 was at 0.05, which was terrific because normally after collecting so much yesterday, it would be about 1/2 of yesterday's value, which is why apheresis can take up to a week. In my case however, we were looking to get 2.7-6.1 Million cells today. Anything that created a total over 10 Million cells would be enough to end the collection process.

We got 6.7 Million cells!!! I'm done with collecting in two days instead of 5-7!!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!! NO MORE NEUPOGEN!!!!! Wohoo!!! I have 12.25 Million cells which is enough for three transplants. I'm now a free man until August 26th!

I do have to be careful with crowds, raw fruits/veggies, and no strenuous activity as I still have my catheter in. Honore thinks I should give it a name because its rather large and hanging off my chest rather strangely. She's leaning towards Herman, I'm leaning towards Ike. We'll see.

The best part of today, beyond not having to go tomorrow, was having my blood drawn from my port. OMG, it ROCKS to not have a needle in my arm first thing in the morning!!! I would be a terrible drug addict, not only can I not give myself a shot, I'm so sick of needles poking me I can barely get them anymore. I seriously don't understand how drug addicts do it. They are truly nuts.

Anyway, that's it from the front today. Hope all is well, keep smiling.

Trav