Treatment day 7: Aphresis, Aphresis, and more Aphresis

Aphreisis has become my bane in trying to move along with this treatment. Today was my third round of aphresis. Quite often a person will need one round of aphresis to collect enough stem cells for the treatment. Two million stem cells are required. Each attempt to collect stem cells through aphresis is a 4-5 hour sitting. Thankfully its not painful or uncomfortable, just boring and playing the waiting game. Today was my third day and things were getting uncomfortable as now the time is adding up by being bed ridden for three straight days. Turns out to be a minimum of 15 hours of laying prone, that is after a nights sleep. But, I persevered and collected the necessary amount of stem cells to start with the chemotherapy portion of treatment tomorrow. Am very grateful to finally treat the defective immune system and start to build a new one from afresh.

One negative effect that I am having from so many aphresis attempts is that I am very fatigued. Slept a lot today and a deep sleep it was. Think that I will be starting chemo already being a little low on energy. Good thing the chemo treatment will only last 4 days.

Had one minor issue show up today. The catheter that's inserted into my jugular vein began slowly leaking after my shower. The doctor and nurse re bandaged it before it could turn into a much larger problem. This evening they will be removing that catheter as one that size is no longer required. Tomorrow they will install a smaller catheter for delivery of the chemo and other drugs, Should be a much more comfortable catheter.

Not really seeing too much of the group lately. Everyone is moving along with their treatments. Sarah & Elena are now in isolation. I think Patricia is about to enter isolation. Brian and Espon have begun their chemo and have had their second dose for the day. They both told me that they feel weird and drugged from the chemo. Guess that is to be expected. Sasha and I will both start our chemo tomorrow. Because of everyone's schedules being a little different we are not seeing each other as frequently as before. Thankfully we all have messenger to use to communicate with one another. It helps just to have a little communication at the very least.

Was very relieved to have the big catheter removed from my neck tonight. Nobody was available to film it for me. Two days ago I filmed stem brother Brian have his catheter removed so I will use the video from that removal for illustrative purposes. They both went pretty much exactly the same.

Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/STCTmDkqAac

 This should give you an idea of what to expect from the catheter removal procedure. It is not painful but it is a relief as it is somewhat uncomfortable to wear around, especially for a few days.

Another new catheter will be installed in my neck tomorrow. It's a much smaller one and should be more comfortable. From this new catheter I will receive chemo, steroids, and a variety of medicines. I like the fact that there will be fewer needle injections as a result.

Not really sure how much I will be able to keep up with my blog during the chemo phase, but I will try my best. Wondering how much energy I will have to stay on top of things. I'll try my best to keep everyone informed.