My Saga with Leukemia

Double Growth Shots

With the chemo finally completed, I once again moved to the cancer lodge and just made daily trips to the hospital lab for blood work, etc. Because the doctor wanted me to have my stem cells collected, they doubled up the growth shots so I would recover from the chemo quicker than usual.

The shots really did boost my recovery and a week later I was scheduled for an exam with the transplant doctor who would oversee my stem cell collection. The day I met him, I was very disappointed. He was a very "negative" individual and the first words out of his mouth were, "I have a lot of doubt that you'll have enough stem cells to do a collection. You'll probably have to come back in a few months after you have more."

OK, so I'm 62, they don't expect things to recover as quickly, but I have been physically active my entire life and to hear him talk so negatively really caught me by surprise.

I was discouraged for days but was pleasantly surprised to learn a week later that after a test was conducted to see how many stem cells I was producing, the collection was declared to be a "go!"