Stem Cell Harvest Day

The big day came finally yesterday. This was the main purpose of our 3 weeks stay here in Chicago. The days leading up to collection day were very uneventful. Due to the fact that Nico had to inject himself daily with Neupogen,  he did not have very much energy for any sightseeing or other activities. He slept for most of the days. This is not uncommon, his body went into overdrive to produce lots of stem cells. It has kind of the same effect like your body fighting an infection. Some people develop a fever and feel generally very achy. In Nico's case, it led to tiredness and general weakness. Just going to the bathroom was a major undertaking.

We reserved the hotel shuttle to drive us to the hospital. There was no point in taking the scooter along. We opted to use the hospital wheelchair to get around that day. As we came down to the hotel lobby, we saw a familiar face. The young man also waiting for the shuttle made the same trip with us 10 days ago, when we were headed for admission on chemo day. 

As it turns out, he also has MS and is on the same treatment schedule as Nico. So we will see him again later in September and Nico has a new buddy. 

He enlightened me, that the TV in our suite has more than only the pay channels. Duh...I spend almost 2 weeks without watching TV! Why did I not ask someone earlier how to operate the darn thing?

Our first stop this morning was the Rube Walker Blood Center on the 11th floor of Galter Pavilion. The boys got their blood drawn to get an estimate on their stem cell production. 
While we were waiting for the results, we walked over to the Feinberg Building, to Interventional  Radiology on the 4th floor, for temporary catheter placement. 
I pushed Nico in his over sized wheelchair, which was really awkward. The doors are not wide enough and the elevators are not big enough for those monsters, it was mostly a bumpy ride. 

The catheter placement went without a hitch. It was done with local anesthesia and he could choose his favorite kind of music to listen to during procedure. He chose reggae music and was happy to hear something from Bob Marley.

Here is Nico, waiting for his turn.

All done!

The whole procedure took less then 30 minutes and was not as awful as it looks like. We made our way back to the 11th floor of Galter Pavilion. We did not have to wait long and Nico got hooked up to the Apheresis machine. Here is a description of the process. Our nurse, Kryztyna, was a very nice and sweet person. It really is amazing how well and efficient every step of the process is organized.

Nico, hooked up.

The collection started at 10:30 am and was finished by 3:00 pm. Nico slept through a big portion of the collection time. Around noon, Dr. Burt's nurse Amy stopped by to check on Nico. She was impressed how well Nico took the treatment so far.
After collection was done, a sample of the stem cell harvest was sent to the lab for counting. We were told it takes about 1.5 to 2 hours to get the result. In the meantime the catheter stays in place, but we were free to go or hang out. 
Nico was hungry and we went to the food-court on the 2nd floor of the Feinberg building. There is a bakery store right at the corner where the Walgreen's Pharmacy is. They have incredibly delicious looking danish pastries. They also offer an assortment  of hot soups. Nico had a bowl of Chicken Dumpling soup, and a cherry filled danish as dessert.

Nico has trouble to keep his eyes open.

Since Nico felt so tired we thought it best to go back to the blood center were he could lay on the easy-chair and take another nap. 
Around 5:00 pm, Kryztyna informed us that she got the result - 7.25 million cells. Only about 2 million are required for the transplant. Yeah! We are good to go.

The only thing left to do was to remove the catheter. Kryztyna explained every step of the process to Nico. He had to put on a face mask and was covert with a sterile paper cloth. 

The nurse disinfected the area and removed 2 sutures that held the catheter in place. She told Nico to take a deep breath and hold it and there was the catheter in the corner on the floor. 

3-lumen VASCATH

She applied pressure to the area to stop any bleeding and closed everything with a tidy compression dressing. This has to stay in place for 24 hours. We had to wait 15 minutes, to make sure there is no bleeding.


We took a taxi to the hotel and Nico barely made it into bed. He was very weak and I had to help him to get around. 
We have one more day to relax and hopefully recover before we fly back to San Diego.

This concludes part one of my blog. I probably will not add anything until September 10, when we come back for the chemo and transplant part of the treatment.