Stem Cell Collection

Stem Cell Collection February 29th

That particular day was certainly a mile marker on this journey.  I was on a double dose of Neupogen (bone marrow stimulant via self-administered injections) for 5 days prior to the collection.  Since I usually get quite sore after a few days of this drug, I was anticipating a lot MORE pain with a doubled dose.  Happily, I didn't experience greater pain :)

The collection (a.k.a. "harvest") was actually scheduled for the day before.  However, I didn't have enough stem cells circulating in my blood on the 28th.  So, Leap Year day it was.

Taking a quick step back from my story, I just wanna say that seeing some medical advancements is pretty neat.  Stem cell collection used to be way more invasive/painful.  In previous years (15-ish years ago), bone marrow was extracted from the hips under general anesthesia.  Then the marrow was returned to your body intravenously.  Now, after taking the Neupogen, the body makes enough stem cells in the bone marrow to "spill the banks" of the bones that they enter the bloodstream and can be collected directly from the blood with just two needle pokes (one in each arm).  The machine used to collect  the stem cells  is similar to a dialysis machine, but is called an apheresis machine.  Blood is taken from one arm, sent through the machine where it is put through a centrifuge, the stem cells are spun out, collected in a bag, and the rest of the blood is returned through the other arm.  I think that is amazing!  How does the machine "know" which cells are the stem cells?  All parts of the blood have different densities, so by spinning it in the centrifuge, the components are separated into "layers" by weight.  The nurses were looking for the "buffy layer" and tinkered with the machine until the proper level was reached.  (The buffy layer is also called the buffy coat.). If your curiosity is piqued by medical stuff, please visit the following link for some more info about the collection:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apheresis

The whole procedure took about 4 hours total.  During that time I was restricted to a bed, as both arms were attached to the apheresis machine.  And I, of course, asked many questions :)...how else would I have found out that during the procedure my entire blood volume circulated through the apheresis machine THREE times!!  As the blood goes through the machine it is mixed with an anti-coagulant.  I also got calcium added back in as my levels get depleted during the procedure.  The nurses told me to make sure to eat calcium-rich foods that evening.  I took that to mean that I should eat ice cream ;). I was very, very tired after the whole thing, but felt pretty much fine the next morning. 

The whole thing was made very tolerable, indeed pleasant, by bringing along my lovely assistant, Nadine <3 She kept me entertained, photographed the proceedings, fed me chocolate, and helped me drink my "martini".  If you want, you can check out some pictures on my Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150582915711333.375090.640446332&type=3