DEFCON -1 – Stem Cell Harvest Day Looms!

So it’s really just dawned on me that tomorrow is the day I’ll be going to St Jame’s for my stem cell harvest. And possibly Wednesday. And possibly Thursday. Depending on whether the harvest is successful, i.e. how many stem cells are floating around my blood over the next few days. I’ve been injecting these GCSF things for the past 6 days (since last chemo) which are supposed to boost white blood count & the bones ability to release stem cells. Hopefully that’s all gone to plan. I have no idea what my blood count is like as the last test was last week Thursday and we were only going to get a call if something was very odd. Which we didn’t. So I guess no news is good news. Then we’ve had the May bank holiday today, and are there tomorrow so no blood test today (guess it’s too late to do anything now at this late stage anyway!)

The harvest date has kinda crept up on us. And is quite a major thing. Crossroads time. What if they can’t get enough cells? What if my line doesn’t work well? What if they put the wrong label on the bag? It’s going to be interesting (me and my analytical, inquisitive mind) – I’ll try get some photos. And be blogging from the SCT unit.

Then the next big thing is the PET scan this coming Friday. That will determine what happens next. Either more chemo. Or Brentuximab and more chemo. Or onto BEAM chemo and stem cell transplant.

Going and having these 2 cycles of ESHAP in a way have been easy and straightforward, as this was always planned. Now will come the truth. Has it worked? Are we going with plan A? Or plan B? Or plan Z? The next 2 weeks will bring many answers. Hopefully no more questions.