My Saga with Leukemia

The Stem Cell Collection

The beginning of March I was scheduled for lab to get the catheter inserted to collect my stem cells. As I always do with invasive procedures, I made sure I told the doctor I wanted some sedation before the procedure. I have no doubt they would want some if it were it were being done to them. I must admit that I was rather surprised and shocked when instead of giving me a sedative directly into my IV line, they instead gave me three injections in my neck. The procedure was explained to me...a small incision would be made in my upper chest, a large but flexible tube would be threaded into my artery ... which would be connected to a machine that would work just like a dialysis machine, causing my blood to circulate through the machine and back into my body while it collected my stem cells for five to six hours for each of two days.

Before being hooked up to the machine that first day, I used the bathroom and took a moment to find out why it was so uncomfortable and painful to move my head to the right or left. The tube that had been inserted was uncomfortable, but it was the two relatively large, plastic butterfly clips that were attached to "something" below the incision site that bothered me the most. In part I was afraid to move for fear of dislodging something and needing to get the insertion procedure done over again.

Thankfully for the two days I had to endure it, all was well AND best of all, the doctor came in to see me on the morning of the 2nd day to announce they had collected way more stem cells than they could ever had hoped for. They are now frozen and will be good for a whopping ten years in the event I need a stem cell transplant.