Day 4

Mom's Central Line placement went well. She came home around 1 and felt great. Around 4 she spiked a fever so I had to take her back into the hospital to get checked out. They feel it is an affect of the blood building shots but gave her a 24-hour dose of a broad spectrum antibiotic. It was nice for her to get to use her line for it so she did not have to get poked. We came home around 7. She still has a fever but they said the antibiotics could cause it to go up if she did have an infection.

The great news is that her stem cell count numbers are good and she will start her harvest tomorrow morning. That is great news. It means that the pain she was in all weekend was worth it; her stem cells mobilized quickly. Her harvest tomorrow will consist of blood being drawn out from her central line, put through a centrifuge where the stem cells are separated from the white, red, and plasma cells, and then the rest of the blood is put back into her body through another port in the central line.

To those who have been asking: What can I do to help? Well I now have something we need. Mom will need probably 5 blood transfusions. They get the blood from the American Red Cross blood bank. Our family has been asked to donate blood to replace it if possible. So if you can donate blood I encourage you to go to the Red Cross and donate blood within the next two weeks I would appreciate it!