Two Shots a Day

Two Shots a Day   Entry#4                                  February 3, 2015

Syringes from the hospital pharmacy to
be injected on the 6 days prior to the stem
cell harvest.

     Dan has entered the Neupogen routine of his mobilization process.   Not to be confused with the shots one would enjoy while partying at Matt and Amanda's sports bar, these shots are given at 7:00 a.m. for each of 6 days.  The purpose is to stimulate his stem cells to grow and find their way from the bone marrow to his peripheral blood.  The end result will hopefully be the harvest of millions of cells on Thursday.

      Because the syringes have to be refrigerated, Dan removes them an hour early to let the chill wear off.  After I've gotten coffee for both of us from the lobby, we wait until 7 when it's time for me to inject them into Dan's stomach.  I'll admit the first day I was a bit nervous and tentative, but the needles are so fine that Dan hasn't felt much discomfort from them at all.  Even Matt had the honor of giving the injections one day.

     While waiting for the harvest day we've been occupying ourselves with daily walks, lunches out, and wonderful visits and calls from friends and family.  Bunny, Cheri, Tim, Kris and Matt have all been here to visit. Megan, Joe, and the Klepels have been solid supports at home.  Joe even "weathered" the Sunday blizzard to pick me up from the train station and get me home for Grandpa's 98th birthday.  

     

We made it to Chili's for lunch dodging the falling
ice from the buildings.  Cherry Fanta is Dan's beverage
of choice.

     Dan has finished the fourth day of shots and according to Dr. Burt's nurse, the side effects of bone pain and nausea could potentially appear today.  I'm happy to say that up to this point, so far so good.  Lab work shows his blood count is right where they want it to be, and there are only two more days until the harvest. The one issue Dan has dealt with so far has been fatigue, which is totally normal.  He has prescriptions on hand in the event the other side effects materialize, but hopefully not.  
     Dan reminds me that there are only 38 more hours until harvest time begins!  Go Stemmies!