October 24, 2003
Friends,
Today's visit to the clinic was less hectic than yesterday. We were out by 1100. My brother, Bob, was still waiting. He is my donor. He gets injections of a growth hormone to stimulate production of stem cells in his bone marrow. These excess stem cells are released into his blood stream. After 4 days of these injections, they will start harvesting stem cells from his blood using a process called pheresis. He will effectively have two IVs. The IVs will be connected to the pheresis machine. On one side, the pheresis machine pumps his blood out, through a centrifuge that collects the stem cells, then the blood is returned in the other IV. Collection will be done on Monday and possibly Tuesday, if they don't get enough. The side effect of the growth hormone is that it makes his bones ache, particularly the major bone marrow bones, which are the ribs, sternum, hips and the upper part of the femur. Bob said he could feel it but it wasn't bad. More of a curiosity.
On the medical front, nothing new to report on me. Bob is getting Nupigen. No lab today.
Have a great weekend,
Ted
tw@wilcoxent.com