You can call me SUPER Woman!

So I guess the Neulasta shots paid off. I walked into the BMT unit on Monday to have labs drawn for a hopeful stem cell collection to start on Tuesday. The nurse accessed my Permcath and sent the labs for analysis. She told Mark and I that we were free to leave and just to come back in the morning. I, however incisted that we stay to find out if I was still neutropenic. I was on neutropenic precautions for close to a week and was determined to spend the day out if I could. I was very happy to hear that my WBCs were at 7.26, smack dab in the middle of normal! :) And I didnt have to wear that goofy blue mask! We spent the day at The Summit mall. We had lunch at Chuy's Mexican Restaurant and then saw the movie "The Help". It was so good! I recommend everyone see it! I still laugh about it. For dinner we had The Cheesecake Factory of course and I did have a piece of my red velvet cheesecake :)

On Tuesday morning we arrived at the BMT unit. The nurse took more labs. I was happy to hear that my labs were good and I was ready to collect! I was connected to the "phresis" machine and the process began! It was very similar to dialysis in that the machine took what it needed and gave me back the rest. In this case it was taking the stem cells from my peripheral blood stream. The process wasn't bad at all. I felt a little light headed but that was from my blood pressure. As silly as it may sound, with each new procedure that I go through as "the patient" I think of the patients that I have taken care of. I think that this whole experience will give me an insight that no other experience could and in turn make me a more compassionate nurse. Isn't it amazing how our God uses us for his purpose.

After about 2 hours the nurse took a sample of the collection to send to the lab. They would determine actually how much of the collection was stem cells. During the process the machine not only collects stem cells but other blood cells and electrolytes. That's why this analysis is important. If the numbers come back showing that the proportion of stem cells is where it should be then the collection process would stop at 4 hours. If not it would continue until it reached 6 hours and for days after until it reached enough collected stem cells. I was very shocked and happy to hear that I would be coming off of the machine at 4 hours. Considering that most people take at least 2 days for collection, I couldn't of been happier. The nurse began calling me "super woman" at this point :)

Thankfully, I didn't need any IV electrolyte or blood product replacements! The nurse couldn't believe that either. She said that most people need at least one electrolyte. I only had to take 1 potassium and 2 Magnesium tablets with dinner. I was so happy to have the process over with! Mark and I celebrated by having dinner at Jim and Nicks BBQ in downtown Birmingham. I usually don't care for BBQ but that was the best BBQ sandwich that I have ever had! I had to stay in Birmingham for the night because they had to do more labs in the morning.

The next morning we packed up and went to the BMT unit for labs. They all came back great!! I didn't need any further oral electrolyte replacement either! We met with our new Nurse Practioner, Melissa. She's a sweetheart! I forgot to mention that we had to fire the old NP Christine. That's another story that I'll have to share later. I feel much more comfortable with Melissa. She seems to be much more compassionate and I'm more confident in her care. After meeting with Melissa we were free to go! We were on the road by 10:00 and home by 1:00! Now I am just waiting to hear from my clinical coordinator for the next steps in the process. For now I'm just enjoying life and praising God for all of his many blessings! :)

*I forgot to take a picture during the process so I found a picture of an aphresis machine to post.