Friends I have to start this post with a massive THANK YOU! Thank you for all your incredible messages of love and support, jokes, life news and good wishes. I feel so blessed to have you all on my side, rooting for me to get well - I promise I will do all I can to combat this challenge, I’m desperate to get back to normal and hopefully to bump into you while doing everyday activities!
My mum and I having a cuddle
Since my last blog post not much has changed, time is
ticking on thank goodness and I am still dealing with the side effects from
chemo. I have horrific mucositis (basically a raw mouth, gums and throat) and
chemo fatigue, plus my haemoglobin levels are low again so I'm waiting to have another blood transfusion - otherwise I am coping well!
Playing Uno to pass time
I have been on a very strict, special, low bacteria diet since I arrived- basically the food I'm given is all either tinned or stewed and most of the time unrecognisable (I wish I was kidding), nothing fresh or tasty. I can't wait to scoff my face with fresh fruit and salad! I'm dreaming of swimming in a huge bowl of cold greek yoghurt and fresh fruit...! I get weighed twice a day for the Doctors to check my fluid retention as well as my weight. Another thing I can't wait to do is change out of pjs and into normal clothes- not that into the slumber look.
The chemotherapy that I’ve been having causes bone marrow suppression, so the bone marrow doesn’t
produce as many blood cells as it normally does, this is very important as blood cells help fight infections and
diseases. With increased demand, the body responds by producing more stem
cells.
Mobilisation
At the moment my cell counts are very low (hence the
mucositis and fatigue) and I am in a phase called mobilisation. Mobilisation is a process whereby stem cells are
stimulated out of the bone marrow space (e.g. the hip
bones and the chest bone) into the bloodstream, so they are available for
collection for future reinfusion. This is done by means of drug called Neupogen
which I get two injections of every morning at 6am in my tummy. They are not
pleasant!
Every morning I have my bloods
taken to check what levels the cell counts are at and to monitor for infections
etc. My bone marrow should peak for collection on either Monday or Tuesday next
week.
Bone marrow
harvesting
*Very important note:
If you sign up to be on the bone marrow donor list (by means of a quick and
simple FREE blood test) and a patient is lucky enough to get you as their
match, the process below explains exactly how donating your stem cells works. It’s
barely painful and is quick and easy!
My greatest fear is
that all of my terrible stories I have told you will put you off becoming a donor!
Please remember that my blog is from a patient’s perspective, my type of
transplant is an autologous one (I am my own donor) and that is the reason I
have to go through the additional treatments etc.
The harvesting
process takes 3–4 hours, depending on the amount of stem cells collected, this
process may be repeated daily for 1–2 days to collect enough stem cells for a
transplant later on in March.
Here is how
the harvesting process works:
- A catheter (thin tube) is placed in a large vein in the donor’s arm.
- Blood travels through the catheter from the body to a special machine. The machine carries out a process called aphaeresis, which separates and collects stem cells from the blood.
- Once the stem cells are removed from the blood, it is returned to the donor (via another catheter in the other arm).
Occasionally
donors may have side effects during the collection process. Some people
experience chills and light-headedness. Donors may also have numbness around
the lips and in the fingers and toes or cramping of the hands. These side
effects are due to low blood calcium levels, which is caused by the
blood-thinning agent used during harvesting and they go away quickly.
The very best news
My very precious fellow cancer soldier, Ashton, finished her final round of chemo today! She is such a hero and we are all so proud of her, finally free yippee!! I could write a whole post about this special girl- she has been so incredibly supportive and understanding throughout our "cancer battle" and I am BEYOND grateful that our paths crossed. We are currently planning to climb Kilimanjaro at the end of 2016 - watch this space :) I can't wait to get back and have tea with you, Bash!
So much love for you! Check out those guns ;)
I am REALLY praying and hoping that my cell count will peak on Monday so that I can then be harvested and sent home- please pray for me friends, getting desperate to get out of here.. it's been a loooong 12 days.
xxx
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