Chanting vigil

Chanting in the Temple of Light during last year’s vigil

With so much going on, I slightly dropped the ball on this project which is very dear to my heart. Yes, despite heading into bone marrow transplant mode, I wanted to keep my aura wrapped around it because I was so eager to see it happen again, for the second year in a row.

Why so eager? Well, not only was it a deeply powerful experience last year, but this year I’ll be receiving my high dose of chemo on September 12 and I can’t imagine anything better than spending the following 24 hours joining in with the vibration of AUM Guru being chanted by devotees around the world.

Details are below and all are welcome to participate.

AUM Guru Chant Vigil 2022

DETAILS & AN INVITATION

We invite you to join with devotees and truth seekers everywhere for a repeat of last year’s 24-hour global chant vigil!

We’ll be chanting AUM Guru to strengthen and unite Ananda communities, meditation and teaching centers, and individual devotees around the world, and to send healing vibrations to all beings and the entire planet.

WHEN

Starting with a mini-kirtan, which will be broadcast live from the Temple of Light at the conclusion of the Swami Kriyananda Spiritual Anniversary event on Monday, September 12 at 8:30pm (PDT).
Convert to your local time

Ending Tuesday, September 13 at 8:30pm (PDT) with another 30 minutes of mini-kirtan, live broadcast from the Temple of Light.

WHO

Everyone is encouraged to add energy in real time, helping to build spiritual magnetism:

Sing along with pre-recorded chanting videos from around the world.
Get together and chant AUM Guru with a few devotee friends.
Sing the AUM Guru chant in the privacy of your own meditation room.
Share the joy in real time by posting photos or video clips of you and your fellow chanters to your personal profile, with the hashtag: #aumguruchant.

LINKS

CLICK HERE for information about Swami Kriyananda’s Spiritual Anniversary event.
CLICK HERE to view both the event AND 24 hours of AUM Guru chant videos.
CLICK HERE for an audio mp3 of the AUM Guru chant.
CLICK HERE to listen to last year’s AUM Guru chant vigil.

August 30, 2022

Collection finished

Google image of an apheresis machine (I didn’t think to take a photo of mine)

If you’re like me, you probably never heard the term “apheresis” before, so a definition might be a good idea:
“Apheresis is the process of withdrawing blood, filtering something out of the blood, and then putting the filtered blood back into the body, using a cell-separating machine.”

In my case, the goal of apheresis was “collecting adequate numbers of peripheral blood stem cells for transplantation,” which I’m glad to report was successful.

A minimum of 3 million stem cells are required for the bone marrow transplant. It took two days, but they were able to “harvest” a total of 3.8 million from me.

I’m feeling a little tired and somewhat drained. Strange in a way, since all I did was sit there while the machine did the work. But it’s not that surprising really, considering the entire volume of my blood was removed and returned to my body four times on each of the two days.

Modern medicine really is quite amazing.

August 29, 2022

Update to the update

Day 1 of stem cell collection accomplished!

Ramesha took this photo at the beginning of the process. I was on the machine for five hours. They harvested about a third of the necessary stem cells, so we’ll be returning tomorrow to do it all again.

As has been the case throughout this entire journey, the nurses and attendants are all exceptionally competent and caring. Such a blessing!

Since I’m just sitting in the chair the whole time, it was an opportunity to catch up on a number of emails and text messages…until the nurse suggested that I lay back and nap (reminding me yet again about resting).

My instructions were to go home, take it easy, and eat a good dinner. So, I just ordered Mexican food to be delivered to the house (one of the perks of being in the city!).

August 28, 2022

August 28 health update

Greetings from Sacramento!

We’ve been here for almost five full days and are finally starting to feel completely settled into our temporary home.

Our Wednesday arrival was fairly intense. We packed up the car, drove to Sacramento, unloaded the car, grabbed a quick lunch and then headed to the hospital for three separate appointments (lab work, COVID test, and a teaching appointment about the nitty gritty bone marrow transplant details).

It was a bit much.

But then we were up early Thursday morning to start with the injections (administered by Ramesha!) that stimulate the stem cells to grow faster, followed by a 7:00am appointment in vascular access to put a “tunneled catheter” into my upper chest, where it will remain for the next however many weeks.This catheter will be used for the stem cell collection as well as to draw blood and give me necessary IV infusions, hydrating fluids, etc. (I shared in more detail about that experience in this blog post.)

Friday was mostly recovery and putting things away, while Saturday was a supposedly quick trip to visit a friend who I hadn’t seen since before the pandemic; unfortunately we didn’t reckon on traffic, which made it into a much longer day than anticipated. Today we went for a walk, watched the Ananda Village Sunday service online, and did some grocery shopping — all blessedly low key activities.

However, tomorrow is the big stem cell collection day! We report to the apheresis unit at 8:00am and I’ll be on the machine for approximately 4-6 hours. It will be great if they can get enough stem cells that first day but if not, we’ll repeat the process on Tuesday and even Wednesday, as needed.

And that’s all there is to report so far. More soon…

Love from Sharon & Fabio
(aka Bhagavati & Ramesha)

August 27, 2022

Good night and sweet dreams

We spent time in traffic on I-80 today, which we’re not used to anymore, so it totally took it out of us.

In fact, Ramesha went to bed at about 8:30 and I’m headed that way just as soon as I’ve finished this blog post.

Since all I can think about is saying “Good night,” here’s Swami Kriyananda singing “Good Night, Sweetheart.”

Enjoy!

August 26, 2022

Feels like forever

We’ve been in Sacramento since Wednesday — not quite three days — but it feels like forever.

One of our Village friends stopped by after a trip to the airport and I found myself wanting to ask him all the latest news. But how much news could there be in less than three days?!?

Pretty funny.

August 25, 2022

A day of new experiences

This morning I had a “line placement” appointment. This is the line that will be used to circulate my blood while extracting the stem cells, to be restored later.

So, I somehow imagined it would be something along the lines of a glorified IV, but I was wrong.

My first clue should have been when the appointment details included the phrase “vascular access.” A big second clue was the fact that I was actually admitted to the hospital for the procedure, even though I didn’t have to remain in the hospital.

At any rate, it ended up being a morning of “firsts” — my first time being wheeled through hospital corridors from the prep room to the procedure room; my first time having oxygen tubing placed at my nostrils (just in case); my first time receiving IV sedation; my first time getting a tunneled catheter placed in a vein near my heart(!); and, finally, my first time being pushed in a wheelchair by one of the attendants to the parking lot afterwards.

All this was on top of yesterday’s rush of packing, the drive down, and afternoon appointments. Needless to say, I spent the rest of today in rest and recovery mode.

August 24, 2022August 24, 2022

We’re here!

We felt like we were packing up our entire house this morning, but it mostly looked like so much because our apartment is small.

We arrived in time to unload the car and grab a quick bit to eat, then it was over to the medical center for lab work, a COVID test, and an educational meeting in the main hospital with a CTU (Cellular Therapy Unit) nurse to learn the nitty gritty details of the transplant process.

And so begins the next phase of the adventure!

August 23, 2022

So much still to do!

Sorting. Folding. Cleaning. Packing. Writing. Organizing.

But we can (we must) do it!