If this were a musical, the opening scene would be me, lightheaded and flushed, opening the curtains (and wincing at the light) and singing about the spring harvest. The bone aches in my legs couldn't stop me from dancing to the hospital. I would nail the chorus.
It's a big day today! In about an hour, I get to go to the first (and hopefully only) day of harvesting my stem cells. I need to give them about 1million per kg of body weight. I'm not an overachiever, so I doubt they'll get more than that from me.
So, I'll sit at the apheresis machine for 5 hours today. This machine is amazing--like something from Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, it will magically pull the blood from my arm, run it through this spinner and shake the stem cells out, then reroute it back into my arm. I know that this is a very scientific explanation and sounds complicated, but basically they're gonna spin the cells out. Then they stick them in a fridge for a couple of days until I get them back.
This day is not just significant because of harvest, but it also marks the timeline where things get going again. Meg and I were settled into our routine of waking up to go rest quite well, but now Cheryl is here, too, and we go straight from harvest to two more days of chemo. Then, if all goes according to plan, my stemmie birthday will be Sunday!
I will post again later this evening after harvest. I can't thank you enough for all the texts and calls I've gotten today giving me strength! I'll return every single text tonight!
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