Angie's Stem Cell Transplant 2006: Day 0 "New Beginnings"

About Me

Location: Nova Scotia, Canada

In Sept./05 I was diagnosed with Primary Mediastinal Large Diffuse B Cell Non Hodgkins Lymphoma. The tumour in my chest measured 10cm x 10.6cm x5cm. After I completed 6 rounds of CHOP-R chemotherapy, a CT Scan in Jan.06 showed that my tumour had decreased by well over half the original size. A Gallium Scan showed negative for cancer cells in my mass. We decided to do 2 more treatments to be sure we killed any remaining cancer. We now had to decide if I should proceed with radiation. Did the risks of radiation outweigh the benefits? My hematologist and radiation oncologist had excellent arguments for both sides of the coin. The decision was to be mine. They set up appointments for me to see doctors in Toronto and Vancouver for 2nd opinions. In Vancouver I had a PET/CT Scan (a superior machine to a Gallium Scan) to see if my tumour was active. On March 17th this scan revealed that my tumour WAS still active and had INCREASED in size from an early scan. This meant that I had Relapsed or Refractory NHL....my best chance for cure was a Stem Cell Transplant. In my blog, I will describe what I am going through before, during and after my transplant.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Day 0 "New Beginnings"

The Stem Cell Collection was scheduled for 11am. My nurse today is Cathy W. & assisting her was nurse James W. Bush....(for real)! The floor doctor Bashar Salin was responsible to hang my bags of stem cells & to be present for the entire procedure.

Jill, the Tissue Bank Specialist brought up my

cells in a metal cart on wheels.

Basically, here is how the day went for me. I was feeling nauseous still, so the nurse & I decided I would do 25 mg. of gravol. As usual, all my vitals were checked around 9am. At about 10:20am. I received Benedryl, Tylenol, Ativan & Zofran. My Stem Cells arrived to my room on the cart at 11am. At about 11:20am, Dr. Hasegawa (Stem Cell Doctor) came into my room to inform me that one of my bags of Stem Cells had cracked & they were concerned the cells would be contaminated. They decided it was best not to give me these cells back. This apparantly is the first time something like this has happened since 1992 when they started using these bags. Fortunately, I had provided 5,400,000 cells to start with...so I had plenty to get the job done. But a thought went through my mind as to what would happen to someone else if they didn't have an abundance of Stem Cells. Scary! So instead of receiving 5,400,000 of my cells back, I am now receiving 4,725,000.

Besides the medical staff, my parents & my sister were in the room during the infusion of Stem Cells. Dad took these photo's for me & Mom stuck close by to keep me calm. Coleen took notes as to how I was feeling during the procedure.....which I will try to explain in my next entry.Part B

2 Comments:

Anonymous said...: Hi Angie!

Jim and I have been in PEI on LGFB business these last 2 days. It is so great to be able to come home and follow your progress closely! You are doing great! Mt. Everest never looked so clear and attainable. You're awesome!!

Much love,

Judi; 12:02 am
Anonymous said...: The Journey
One day you finally kenw
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice...
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"mend my life!"
each voice cried.
but you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
thogh the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
thought their melancholy was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own,
that kept you company as you strode deeper and deeper into the world, determined to do the only thing you could do...
determined to save
the only life you could save.

author
mary oliver

Pictou County; 8:37 pm