Week Two - Tuesday

Post by Valerie:

DAY SIX - On Monday, Dad had his first "collection" day. This process is called Apheresis and is similar to dialysis. For the last 5 days he had been receiving the Neupogen injections to stimulate production of new stem cells. Today, he was connected to a machine that removes blood and selectively collects the stem cells. Once the stem cells are collected, the blood is returned to him. His pheresis session took 5 hours. He was then allowed to go back to the apartment to rest and got a phone call in the evening of the results. The nurse indicated to him that they had only been able to collect 15% of what they needed from his blood. This was much less than what they look for. Typically they expect to get everything they need in 1-2 sessions. Hopes for a better tomorrow!!!

DAY SEVEN - Today, the second pheresis session continued as planned. This one also took 5 hours. Dad said that all of the patients undergoing the Stem Cell Transplant (SCT) are scheduled for these sessions together. The same group of people came in hooked up to their machines, all hoping for the best (primarily hoping it's the last day). That was an interesting component, I thought. Following the collection, he received a phone call indicating only a 10% collection of what they needed for the day. His total is now at 25%. They now will make a modification to his course by giving him a different type of injection tomorrow to boost the production of his stem cells even more. This is called Mozobil. The side effects are more severe but it's necessary to obtain the optimal number of stem cells to support rapid bone marrow recovery and blood cell production with the SCT. Tomorrow he will continue the pheresis and get the Mozobil boost injections. More hoping for better results!!!

One week is down. The schedule includes the big bout of chemo this weekend and the transplant day being Monday. We ask again that you send prayers and well wishes this way. Every bit of support helps as we move along.