The Havest is in!

Good day! This week was long, but the longer and longest have yet to come. On Tuesday I did start my harvesting, it was much better than I thought. Getting the catheter in my neck wasn't so bad, it was as they said, "like getting a really big IV in your neck" Just with local deadening they were are to place the central line. The nurse was very pleased because I had a really "big" vein and they did not have to poke around to find it. I was pretty happy about that too!

I started the harvesting right away. (I hope you can see the two photos...if not, that is because I couldn't figure out how to post the photos) Sorry if the photos are too much for you, but I have many that are curious about the process. The machine looked like a lot of cris-crossed tubes with blood pumping through them and a number of spinning knobs and bags filling up. Actually, quite boring. I packed the suitcase with my computer, thank you notes, dvd's ipod....well I just slept for the 3 to 4 hours......so on Wednesday I didn't take anything anticipating just sleeping again, and I did. But on Thursday, I was wide awake...and wished I had something to do. 6 million stem cells were collected by 1:30 on Thursday and I was done. They removed the central line...that was a little tricky! They really had to apply pressure for 15 minutes to make sure the vein stops bleeding.

I am still on schedule to have two days of chemo starting Monday the 22nd, and the on Wednesday they will perform the transplant, which is really just like a blood transfusion (they call this day "day zero"). All of this will be administered through my port, so no more sticking or poking! Yeah! They will give me plenty of anti-nausea meds and other stuff that will make those two days OK. However, the fun of all this will start going down hill around day 4, Sunday June 27th. I should be feeling pretty yucky on day 4-8 or 9, and then start climbing out of it around day 10 and almost human on day 14. Day 14 will be the day that my marrow has been completely replaced and is all brand new~ cancer free, in remission!

Some of you have asked "if I was 'cancer free' after the Marrow biopsy, why am I still doing the transplant?" Good question. Here's the deal. Yes, my marrow showed absolutely clean, no myeloma cells. And yes, I could have just stopped there and gone to a maintenance program, however, multi-myeloma sometimes can hide. Remember, it does not have a cure but is very treatable, and in most cases will return. When?; is the question. The key is not just to be in remission, "waiting" for it to return, but to be event free~ clean to the point of no relapse. Now, there is absolutely no guarantee, but having a transplant will certainly make that goal much more obtainable for me. I chose to do the early transplant verse the late.

My sister comes on Sunday and she will be sit with me through July 4th, the worse of it. Today, I am really feeling well, well enough to have come to the lake this weekend. AJ and I just wanted to get away for a day or two before we hit this head-on running with the Lord's guidance. As most of you know I really rely on my faith, and I want to share that I have seen AJ's faith really blossom through out all of this. I pray, he prays, we pray together, when I am not up to it, he prays for me...we put all our trust in the Lord. Praise God!

Thank you all for your special thoughts and prayers, please keep them on going. One of the sweetest chemo nurses, Beth, gave me this scripture my last day of chemo in my oncology's office:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6