In order to harvest stem cells from Mom’s blood she first has to produce new healthy stem cells. She gives herself 7 shots a day, 6 are for blood growth. The 3 shots in the morning were not so bad. She still had a nice day overall. But the shots at night were a different story. She had to do the 3 shots from earlier in the day again and then added another intense shot to promote stem cell growth. This one, apparently, is supposed to mobilize the stem cells quickly. The major side effect from this procedure is flu like symptoms. Mom had a really bad headache day 1 during the night and did not sleep well. Add to this that her sister called to tell us her other sister had a heart attack. Aunt Della is doing better now and is home, but obviously Mom was worried about this.
Day 2 – Saturday
The shots continue today. However unlike day 1 today was a little more painful. Mom skipped the cancer walk today. She just was not feeling up to it. The rest of us left at 8 to head to Liberty Park. Together our team, Cancer Sucks, raised just shy of $1900 for cancer research. (pictures from the walk to come later) We walked around the park 2 out of the 3 times and decided we should go home and take care of Mom. Plus it was getting really cold! Mom was in good spirits when we got home, we all had hot chocolate or herbal tea to warm up. Later in the day Mom started to really feel the effects of the shots. Bone pain is something that you really have to live through to know exactly what it is. Well Mom’s was so bad that her body was reacting with spasms. I sat and watched her entire body spasm for hours. We called the hospital twice and they finally decided that her pain medication was not working as it should. They told us to give her the stronger pain meds that we had been given for Monday, day 4. These pills put Mom to sleep within hours, and her body relaxed.
Day 3 – Sunday
I kept Mom on the pain meds on schedule today so she mostly slept. Aunt Colleen called to tell Mom that her cousin Larry died from complications of his diabetes, Larry also had the same cancer Mom has. In fact they had the same doctor at the Cancer Specialists. We had visits today from my cousins Sam and Leslie. Les made us vinyl Cancer Sucks ribbons to put on our car windows. Candice dropped by for a second as well to exchange some videos so Mom can watch them when she is in the hospital. Barry and Debbie came by because Mom had asked for a blessing before she goes in on Monday. I am amazed how the Lord knows us and knows what we need, when we need it. Mom was given a beautiful blessing about the power of the atonement and made some promises for her healing process. We went to sleep around 10 and Mom slept well until about 1 a.m. I guess if you sleep all day you do not sleep all night. At about 4:30 she moved to the other room to see if she could get comfortable on a couch. That brings us to now, it is 5:30 and decided since my alarm is going off at 6 I would stay up and get some things done. This is one of the things I have been meaning to do.
Today starts Day 4 – Monday. Mom gets her central line put in today. The harvest of stem cells starts tomorrow. If all goes well she will be admitted into the hospital Tuesday October 21.
3 comments:
DEEP, deep breath...
What a few days; we're praying for everyone to be strong, and for Mom's (everywhere, really) to fight the battle inflicted upon their bodies. Love ya, Steph...
I have you and your family in my prayers, Steph, and my fingers crossed that your mom and her stem cells will be ready at the earliest possible time.
Thank you for keeping me updated. And congrats on raising so much money in the cancer walk! That's fantastic.
Thank you so much for the updates: you and your mom are in our thoughts and prayers.
Sorry about missing the walk: I hope that you know how much we love you, anyway.
Hugs and best wishes!
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