Harvest and Hair
I am a bit short of hair.
Decided to take control of the chemo induced hair loss and instead of waiting for it to fall out, I went for a no.3 buzz cut. It looks a bit shocking and my head feels like an ice cream cone in 0C without my beanie on, but I am gradually getting used to it. It still seems to have a life of its own and acts mostly like a strip of Velcro.
As an alternate we decided to try on a few more wigs.
Sarah almost wet herself laughing but not just at me at herself too.
We settled on just the one wig as Sarah decided that she would borrow mine when I got fed up with it. Not sure I will wear it much as it is like having a rug on your head.
We are back at home in Queenstown after our first hospital holiday in Christchurch and a successful stem cell harvest. The stem cell harvest was quite an ordeal.
After 8 injections of stem cell growth factor, my larger bones started to pulsate. I had some sleepless hours when it felt like someone was playing the drums down my spine at the same time an alien was trying to burst out of my rib cage. Fortunately, the pain killers were strong and kicked in to give me some relief. Walking around was easier than sitting or lying down. You can imagine my reaction when I was told that I needed another injection and had another 24 hours to wait before the process could start.
We took the opportunity to check out:
Sculpture in the botanical gardens
Flowers in the greenhouses- Lady's Purse
The graffiti art on some of the ruined buildings in Christchurch
When the stem cell harvest finally got going on Wednesday morning, I had 140 million stem cells per kilo of body weight. They only needed me to produce 60 million.
I had to lie on a bed for 4 hours with needles in both arms. Left arm with a long metal needle (I was forbidden to move this arm for the entire procedure as it was withdrawing blood from me); right arm with a plastic flexible needle ( I could move this whilst blood was being returned).
Blood was extracted into an Apheresis machine (stem cell separator) which spins the blood, detects the stem cells to be collected, separates them from the blood and collects them in a special bag.
Only 10% of my total stem cells are allowed to be extracted. In total, only 300ml of blood was out of my body at one time.
Yellow bag = plasma cells; Reddish bag - red blood on the bottom, buffy coat in the middle full of stem cells and yellow film on top- more plasma) I had to fill up this bag.
Citrate (an anticoagulant) was added to the blood, it was warmed up and returned to me via the right arm. Lips and fingers/toes tingled a bit due to calcium levels dropping despite the fish/milk cheese diet but not badly enough to warrant any calcium tablets.
Worst thing was the metal needle in the left arm that I could feel from time to time as my arm throbbed as my blood pressure dropped and trying to hold in a full bladder. The nurse was not in the mood to produce a bed pan for me so I had to hold on for the last 2 hours.
At the end, I was light headed and weak.
Now after 1 week and back home, all those stem cells not taken are busy turning into white or red cells and/or finding their way back into the bone marrow. Apart from the itchy scalp and daily and nightly sweats, I feel good.
With this newfound energy, we have been cycling and walking in between painting the garage.
My first cycle ride in 6 months was for 25km in 7C in a loop from Alexandra to Clyde along part of the Central Otago rail trail and back along the riverside walk.
It was flat but even so a bit cold for me.
We have a short break in which I have been given strict instructions to stay healthy and keep away from crowds and people with colds. We have a series of tests to go through (chest, lungs, heart, nasal passages, dentist) involving more visits to local hospitals.
On 28 August, the next stage in the treatment begins again in Christchurch. This will take 4-6 weeks. It starts with inserting a PIKK line into my arm, more all day high dose chemo then the stem cells are given back to me. The chemo will be the highest I will get as it will kill off all white cells in my blood. Within days I will have zero immunity.
Rather than being admitted to hospital immediately, the strategy is to wait and see and test me on a daily basis and admit me when I get sick. The likelihood is that I will be admitted within a week and will have 7-10 days in hospital (some of this in isolation) Only 2 people in the last 60 have managed to stay out of hospital entirely. Who knows, maybe I will be the third.
Meanwhile I am enjoying the sunshine and walking by the lake, even if it is on the way to yet another blood test
Decided to take control of the chemo induced hair loss and instead of waiting for it to fall out, I went for a no.3 buzz cut. It looks a bit shocking and my head feels like an ice cream cone in 0C without my beanie on, but I am gradually getting used to it. It still seems to have a life of its own and acts mostly like a strip of Velcro.
As an alternate we decided to try on a few more wigs.
Sarah almost wet herself laughing but not just at me at herself too.
We are back at home in Queenstown after our first hospital holiday in Christchurch and a successful stem cell harvest. The stem cell harvest was quite an ordeal.
After 8 injections of stem cell growth factor, my larger bones started to pulsate. I had some sleepless hours when it felt like someone was playing the drums down my spine at the same time an alien was trying to burst out of my rib cage. Fortunately, the pain killers were strong and kicked in to give me some relief. Walking around was easier than sitting or lying down. You can imagine my reaction when I was told that I needed another injection and had another 24 hours to wait before the process could start.
We took the opportunity to check out:
Sculpture in the botanical gardens
Flowers in the greenhouses- Lady's Purse
The graffiti art on some of the ruined buildings in Christchurch
When the stem cell harvest finally got going on Wednesday morning, I had 140 million stem cells per kilo of body weight. They only needed me to produce 60 million.
I had to lie on a bed for 4 hours with needles in both arms. Left arm with a long metal needle (I was forbidden to move this arm for the entire procedure as it was withdrawing blood from me); right arm with a plastic flexible needle ( I could move this whilst blood was being returned).
Blood was extracted into an Apheresis machine (stem cell separator) which spins the blood, detects the stem cells to be collected, separates them from the blood and collects them in a special bag.
Only 10% of my total stem cells are allowed to be extracted. In total, only 300ml of blood was out of my body at one time.
Yellow bag = plasma cells; Reddish bag - red blood on the bottom, buffy coat in the middle full of stem cells and yellow film on top- more plasma) I had to fill up this bag.
Citrate (an anticoagulant) was added to the blood, it was warmed up and returned to me via the right arm. Lips and fingers/toes tingled a bit due to calcium levels dropping despite the fish/milk cheese diet but not badly enough to warrant any calcium tablets.
Worst thing was the metal needle in the left arm that I could feel from time to time as my arm throbbed as my blood pressure dropped and trying to hold in a full bladder. The nurse was not in the mood to produce a bed pan for me so I had to hold on for the last 2 hours.
At the end, I was light headed and weak.
Now after 1 week and back home, all those stem cells not taken are busy turning into white or red cells and/or finding their way back into the bone marrow. Apart from the itchy scalp and daily and nightly sweats, I feel good.
With this newfound energy, we have been cycling and walking in between painting the garage.
My first cycle ride in 6 months was for 25km in 7C in a loop from Alexandra to Clyde along part of the Central Otago rail trail and back along the riverside walk.
It was flat but even so a bit cold for me.
We have a short break in which I have been given strict instructions to stay healthy and keep away from crowds and people with colds. We have a series of tests to go through (chest, lungs, heart, nasal passages, dentist) involving more visits to local hospitals.
On 28 August, the next stage in the treatment begins again in Christchurch. This will take 4-6 weeks. It starts with inserting a PIKK line into my arm, more all day high dose chemo then the stem cells are given back to me. The chemo will be the highest I will get as it will kill off all white cells in my blood. Within days I will have zero immunity.
Rather than being admitted to hospital immediately, the strategy is to wait and see and test me on a daily basis and admit me when I get sick. The likelihood is that I will be admitted within a week and will have 7-10 days in hospital (some of this in isolation) Only 2 people in the last 60 have managed to stay out of hospital entirely. Who knows, maybe I will be the third.
Meanwhile I am enjoying the sunshine and walking by the lake, even if it is on the way to yet another blood test
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