Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Stem Cells Transplanted

After battling against insomnia again last night, I had to fight off a couple of brief waves of nausea this morning. I was previously armed with the anti-nausea drug prochlorperazine to use if needed, so I have resorted to that.

When we arrived at the IPOP clinic for my 10 A.M. appointment, we were informed that the transplant would not begin until noon; so after having blood drawn as usual, we went home.

At noon I was
first set up with IVs of Zofran (for nausea) and Benadryl (to defend against a possible reaction against the preservative used for the stem cells). The latter made me extremely foggy. The frozen stem cells were brought out and defrosted in a warm water bath. The two large bags I had seen taken away at the end of the apheresis procedure had been reduced to just two small bags of straw-colored liquid. It took only about twenty minutes for them to go in. I was topped off with the inevitable saline flush. I was kept for an additional two hours, as my "vitals" were taken each half hour, to watch for any bad reactions, which did not happen in my case. We returned home by around 4 P.M. I left the IPOP clinic with a taste in my mouth resembling that of garlic, which will continue for a couple of days.

Writing this post is taking somewhat more effort than usual, as I am experiencing a great deal of fatigue, and my stomach is a bit unsettled. I am just getting started coming to terms with all the new medications. I have a feeling that the next few days are going to be challenging.

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