On Saturday, my wife began the neuprogen injections designed to increase the generation of her Stem Cells. Today we went to Fairfax Hospital to have a Quentin catheter put into her chest to allow for the extraction from her peripheral blood and the eventual reinjection of her stem cells after her immune system is suppressed by chemotherapy. She is a good candidate for the procedure, known as an autologous stem cell transplant, because of how well she has done on chemo, and how healthy, other than her blood cancer, she is.
We had to be prepared for possible complications today, but none occurred. The procedure was done under a sedative, although we were prepared for general anethesia (nothing by mouth after midnight) in case complications or pain required a general to be administered.
As a precaution to post-operative pain, she has taken a pain killer before being discharged, and we have a prescription being filled for additional pain killers should they be necessary. We are hopeful they will not be.
Tomorrow I will return to the classroom. A friend will drive her first to the transplant surgeon's office to get another shot, then the short distance to where her stem cells will be gathered, dropping her off there. I will be picking her up sometime in the afternoon, leaving school as soon as I can.
Unless there are complications to report, I will next update friends and family after the gathering of her stem cells is completed later this week.
We are so grateful for the emotional support, for the holding us in the light, the prayers.
We are also grateful for the assistance of friends, one of whom has volunteered to be the caregiver after she returns from the hospital near the end of this month. This will save us a large amount of money while addressing the requirements she not be left alone.
We are grateful for the support. We are blessed with how well she has done. We are fortunate in the health insurance she has as a federal employee, without which the excellent treatment she has received might have been beyond our reach.
We thank all, profusely, for your care and concern.
Peace.