I am currently hooked up to the apheresis machine, harvesting stem cells. It is quite an impressive machine, although I might be more impressed if it was hooked up to someone else. It is a painless procedure, though, and I have been underway for almost an hour. I will describe in this post what the process is like, and what it looks like, so if you don't like to hear about blood being pumped out of the body through clear plastic tubes, you may not want to read on.
As I posted last night, I have two tubes coming out of my chest, and the machine pumps my blood out of one tube and back in through the other. As it pumps the blood out of my body it mixes with an anticoagulant. The tubes are clear, so you can see the blood flowing through them. The tubes wind around on the top of the machine, mixing the blood with anticoagulant and saline solution, then enter a centrifuge. There the red blood cells are separated to one side, the plasma to the other side, and the stem cells are left in between. Three tubes then draw off the three layers. The red blood cells and the plasma are returned to my body, and the stem cells are kept for storage.
My blood will cycle through the machine 5 times today. My blood volume is 5487 mL and the machine will pull out 1 mL of stem cells each minute, so 60 mL an hour. I will be hooked up to the machine for about 5 hours, so it will collect about 300 mL of stem cells by the end of the procedure today. It will also pull out platelets and some hemoglobin. My platelets will be cut in half, but will rebound quite a bit over night. My hemoglobin, which is currently 11.1 g/dL, will drop to about 10 g/dL. I did receive another dose of Neupogen today, so that will help my cells rebound and provide more stem cells for the same process tomorrow. Hopefully these numbers will satisfy the science geeks in the audience (like me).
I really don't feel anything during the process. The anticoagulant binds with Calcium in the blood, so there is a risk of becoming hypocalcemic (low calcium). My job is to watch for symptoms of this so they can give me more calcium. The symptoms are tingling in the fingers, feet, lips, and mouth. So far I have felt a little in my left hand and foot, but they increased my calcium and it went away.
That's all that is going on here today. It is a rather slow day; just lying in bed watching my blood cycle through the machine. Just like any other slow day, right?! It is surprisingly easy actually.
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5 comments:
thinking of you. i do admire your sense of humor.
Hey, Matt, I have a couple of questions for ya'... I did a bunch of reading to catch up on the last six months or so of updates. I'm glad to read that you're still in such good spirits through all this! So, if you don't mind me asking a bunch of dumb questions, here goes:
What volume are they aiming for in terms of the stem cell harvest? Does that determine how many times they need to harvest them, or is there some other criteris for determining when they have 'enough'?
How are they (the stem cells) stored, and for how long can they be stored?
When they re-introduce them after the next round of treatments, what do they do & how do they work to rebuild your immune system? (it is the immune system they rebuild, isn't it?)
From an engineering standpoint, the machine probably looks a lot more simple than it is... I'd pop the hood and see what makes it tick!
Hi Matt, though it's been a while your spirit amazes me and my thoughts and prayers are with you & your family always! Mom (Barb T.) keeps me up to date on how you're all doing & I check the blog, it's just so awesome to have the technology we have today. Speaking of, just imagine if you had an iPhone with applications for medicine when you were in school! LOL Though who knows what "that school up north" would have provided you ;) OKOK I kid I kid! I have the same questions as Joe C and am interested in hearing the latest. God bless you and keep on stayin strong!!
Hey, Matt. Greg and I just found about about your "adventures with cancer" - Seiji e-mailed us with a link to this blog. I find your high spirits and strength of faith to be very inspiring. Thank you for keeping us all posted (and so educated! It's very interesting to have this insider's view of the treatment process, although of course I wish it was some random person relaying the info, and not you). Please count us among your supporters; we'll be tuning in for more updates.
Love, Wendy and Greg
Hi Matt and Megan and Ethan!
We've been following your blog for quite a while and find it's a great way to stay in touch. Your strenght is amazing. I say a prayer every time and just know God is listening! Thanks for being the inspiration you are and thanks for being part of our lives.
Henry Ford used to say "Whether you think you can, or think you can't.......you're right!!" Matt, the first half of this sentence applies to you. You can....You CAN!!! YOU CAN!!!
Rest easy and let the process work. See you soon.
Tom and Pat Luley
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