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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.

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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!).

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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)

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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!

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Bit by bit

There’s still an awful lot to do before we depart on Wednesday, but I feel good about the progress I made last night and today.

Most of our indoor plants have been relocated. I have a plan for the outdoor plants. Three out of four loads of laundry are done. The house is clean. I have a home exercise program created by my friend, Satyana, so I can focus on gently rebuilding strength throughout the recovery process.

And I’ve got a growing list of items I don’t want to forget when I do my real packing tomorrow!

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Really happening

As I got ready for Sunday service, as we rehearsed, and throughout the service itself, I couldn’t help thinking that we won’t be doing this for some time to come.

And that — more than anything else so far — brought home to me that this is really happening. We’re really leaving for Sacramento in just a few more days and then the adventure really gets interesting!