I have been advised to stay away from sick people and crowded public spaces for the start of this week as my immune system will be at its lowest after mobilisation. And yeah, I'm tearing my hair out. I've thought about what I could do, and I thought I could spend time on my blog but it's funny how time does not increase inspiration because as much as I have wanted to write I've got nothing. Seriously, the best I can come up with is to write about being bored.
It is funny, I really think that I wouldn't be bored if the good people at the hospital hadn't said anything and I just decided to mope around the hotel room of my own volition. It's like when they tell you you are not aloud to eat anything after midnight it's a sure fire way to make sure you will feel hungry at breakfast time when every other day I can go without breakfast quite happily.
So, Monday morning my mother escorted me to the hospital to have blood work done. I'm not sure if I had been lucky up until now or if I just caught them on a busy day but this was the first time I had any real wait. It took over 40 minutes to get into the lab to finally have my labs drawn, but I didn't mind. In Australia I have had to wait over two hours before and it's not like I had somewhere else to be. After the labs I started to feel a little tired again so we went and got a coffee before we took a cab home. I assume all the tests came back good because I haven't heard back from them.
Other than that I have started getting a tidy little morning routine together. I wake up at 7.00am and meet my mother in the kitchenette where I get my daily dose of neupogen. I also have my antibiotic which has to be taken on an empty stomach before returning to bed for an extra little nap before I wake for breakfast and the remainder of my pharmaceutical cocktail.
On my naughty notes, I haven't strictly followed doctors orders precisely. Before I bored myself to death I had to get out. So I decided a nice little trip to the movies where I could sit in the corner away from other potentially diseased individuals and be entertained. We went and saw 'Act of Valour'. If you like action movies I'd wait for the DVD, if you don't like action movies I wouldn't bother. And today I went out for lunch to somewhere quiet. We also stopped off to look for a present for my daughter at American Girl. Wow, that store is something else. My daughter would be in heaven but me I felt like a fish not just out of water but in the middle of the Sahara.
On the plus side apart from some mild, intermittent fatigue I have felt really good. The most common side effect of neupogen is bone pain and I have had none of that. Well that is it for me for today, I will post again tomorrow. Until then, stay well:)
Showing posts with label neupogen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label neupogen. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Monday, March 12, 2012
Neupogen
Today was the first day I had to have my neupogen injections. Neupogen, or filgrastim as it is know generically, is used to stimulate the production of stem cells in the bone marrow so when it comes time to harvest I will have plenty to collect. The most common side effect is bone pain but luckily I have not got any of that.
In all honesty, the injections are quite straight forward. The most confusing thing about it is the instructions. There were pages explaining the process from preparing the vile and the syringe, but most of it was redundant as the neupogen comes in pre filled syringes. So the process, which was really quite simple involve taking the syringe out of the sterile packet, removing the rubber stopper, wiping down the injection site with an alcohol wipe, insert and depress in the fatty tissue of the belly (which my wife reminds me I have plenty of).
At the hospital Amy said that it was simple and she was right. The instructions were really more confusing than helpful. However, there was one more obstacle I didn't foresee. The hospital had provided an at home sharps disposal canister. We couldn't figure out how to put the syringe in the container as the hole was not big enough. We figured it out in the end.
Thanks to my mother who helped me with the injections. Until next time, stay well:)
In all honesty, the injections are quite straight forward. The most confusing thing about it is the instructions. There were pages explaining the process from preparing the vile and the syringe, but most of it was redundant as the neupogen comes in pre filled syringes. So the process, which was really quite simple involve taking the syringe out of the sterile packet, removing the rubber stopper, wiping down the injection site with an alcohol wipe, insert and depress in the fatty tissue of the belly (which my wife reminds me I have plenty of).
At the hospital Amy said that it was simple and she was right. The instructions were really more confusing than helpful. However, there was one more obstacle I didn't foresee. The hospital had provided an at home sharps disposal canister. We couldn't figure out how to put the syringe in the container as the hole was not big enough. We figured it out in the end.
Thanks to my mother who helped me with the injections. Until next time, stay well:)
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Stem Cell Transplant
I have had a fair few questions about my stem cell transplant recently. And rightly so. A stem cell transplant can mean a number of things from deriving a small amount of stem cells from fat tissues purely for cosmetic purposes all the way up to a total bone marrow transplant. Here are the details of what I will hopefully be going through.
The full name of my procedure is an autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Definitions are as follows:-
Autologous:- Derived or transferred from the same individuals body*
Hematopoietic:- The formation of blood or blood cells in the body*
Stem Cell:- An unspecialised cell that gives rise to a specialised cell, such as a blood cell*
Transplant:- To transfer (tissue or organ) from one body or body part to another*
*Definitions from www.thefreedictionary.com
So, in short, the procedure is the donation of blood stem cell from myself to myself. But it is a fraction more complicated than that. The following diagram gives a brief explanation of the process:
The hard part comes in three sections. There is the first round of chemotherapy that is used to stimulate the growth of stem cells so they can harvest as many they can. Also have to have Neupogen injections for one week to assist in this endeavor. Both the chemo and neupogen are not without their side effects, which is the fun part.
Second, is the intensive round of chemotherapy. We all know someone who has had cancer and the difficulty that they have had. Aside from me not having cancer it really is not much different. The iidea of this round of chemo is to completely destroy all white blood cells, so when the stem cell are reintroduced they create a brand new immune system and there is nothing left to copy. If I simply re-grew a copy of my old immune system I would still have the antibodies that were attacking my nervous system.
Third, after the second round of chemo I'll be completely neutropenic. Meaning I will have no immune system and unable to fight off infection. Even a common cold could be life threatening, so I have to be really careful for the next few months to make sure I don't catch anything. Even though they have a timeline for when they think you should reach certain milestones, what really dictates when you reach those milestones is your white blood count as that is the best indication of the strength of your immune system.
Next time I will post my transplant schedule, so all going to plan, you will be able to know when I will be facing each stage. Until then, stay well:)
The full name of my procedure is an autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Definitions are as follows:-
Autologous:- Derived or transferred from the same individuals body*
Hematopoietic:- The formation of blood or blood cells in the body*
Stem Cell:- An unspecialised cell that gives rise to a specialised cell, such as a blood cell*
Transplant:- To transfer (tissue or organ) from one body or body part to another*
*Definitions from www.thefreedictionary.com
So, in short, the procedure is the donation of blood stem cell from myself to myself. But it is a fraction more complicated than that. The following diagram gives a brief explanation of the process:
The hard part comes in three sections. There is the first round of chemotherapy that is used to stimulate the growth of stem cells so they can harvest as many they can. Also have to have Neupogen injections for one week to assist in this endeavor. Both the chemo and neupogen are not without their side effects, which is the fun part.
Second, is the intensive round of chemotherapy. We all know someone who has had cancer and the difficulty that they have had. Aside from me not having cancer it really is not much different. The iidea of this round of chemo is to completely destroy all white blood cells, so when the stem cell are reintroduced they create a brand new immune system and there is nothing left to copy. If I simply re-grew a copy of my old immune system I would still have the antibodies that were attacking my nervous system.
Third, after the second round of chemo I'll be completely neutropenic. Meaning I will have no immune system and unable to fight off infection. Even a common cold could be life threatening, so I have to be really careful for the next few months to make sure I don't catch anything. Even though they have a timeline for when they think you should reach certain milestones, what really dictates when you reach those milestones is your white blood count as that is the best indication of the strength of your immune system.
Next time I will post my transplant schedule, so all going to plan, you will be able to know when I will be facing each stage. Until then, stay well:)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)