GCSF Injections

I haven't written since last week, as there really hasn't been much to write about. This past week was a vacation from hospital visits & anything else to do with this tumour of mine. It has been good to have some down time to gather my strength for what is coming in the next few weeks.
Yesterday, was the start of my G-CSF ( granulocyte colony-stimulating factor)Injections also known as Neupogen Filgrastim. Filgrastim is used to stimulate the production of granulocytes (a type of white blood cell) in patients undergoing therapy that will cause low white blood cell counts. This medication is used to prevent infection and neutropenic (low white blood cells) fevers caused by chemotherapy. I received this medication after each of my chemotherapy treatments to help keep my white count at safe levels. The doses I received after each of my chemos was 300 mcg per day from 5-7 days.
My current doses are more than 4 times as strong as those previous doses. The VON (Victorian Order of Nurses) administers 1380 mcg for 4 days finishing on Sunday. In large doses this drug encourages stem cells to mature very quickly into Neutrophils (a type of white blood cell). Because it causes such a rapid increase in neutrophils, the bone marrow is forced to push the stem cells out of the marrow and into the blood to make room for all the new cells. Hopefully, by Monday morning I will have lots of stem cells in my blood to begin the collection process. I will get a blood test at 7:30am. on Monday to determine if I have the necessary 34+Stem Cells. If I pass the test, then I will be hooked up to the aphaeresis machine for collection. I will have my laptop with me so I can update it while I am having my stem cells collected.