February 8, 2013

TWELEVE DAYS, BUT WHOSE COUNTING

Pauline is out and about this morning.  I’m making a grocery list and watching Kung Foo Panda 2.  My sister is in town and made it through all the tests.  They weren’t all flying at full mast but she passed with colors.  Sunday she starts the shots that make her body produce copious amounts of stem cells.  Those cells are primarily in the skull, the breast bone, the thighs (tibia and fibula if I remember high school correctly) and the hips ( mostly right at those bumps Dan Aykroyd had on his back side in Coneheads).  The Donor produces so many stem cells that some people get bone pain, anything from minor headache to full body pain similar to what you get with a bad case of the flu.

Then on Wednesday they start collecting cells.  I have learned these last few days that my sister the Donor has a fear of needles.  That makes being a donor problematic.  I discovered this fact when she began to tell me about “butterfly needles”.  Well between the leukemia and my former life as a hospital architect extraordinaire, I am quite familiar with needles.  The needles she referred to are very small and have “wings”, sort of little handles.  Most of the nurses I see can insert one with the patient felling less pain than a figure prick.  Part 2 of the issue is that the needles use to harvest stem cells are much larger.  They have to be in so that the cells are not damaged during the harvest.  But as with everything so far the Center has a plan.  They have decided to install a central line.  This is a system similar to an IV.  It will be installed on her shoulder near the neck while she is sedated.  I had one of those after my emergency surgery.  It was a minor deal to me but I have learned to live with needles.

So we have some dinners planned. I have a list of things to pack and a small list of things to do.  That latter is the hardest part of me because it puts a real time line on things.  Exactly 12 days from when I type this I am to report for admission to the hospital and the first round of chemo.  I’m doing my best to gear up.  I refer to my emergency surgery stay in the hospital as Training Day.  And I know the game is going to be much tougher then the training. No doctor has pulled any punches on that one.

I found a child’s reward calendar on the interwebz.  I’ve set it up to make me eligible for rewards for doing things like eating and exercising.  In homage of the blog Pauline kept when her Dad was sick I made one reward a “Hug from Nurse Goodbody”. 

I hope the nurses don’t take offense. 

I hope there is a Nurse Goodbody.

Boone