Day 2 Stem Cell Collection

Seemed to go faster. Likely as I napped more. No Jerry Springer as I was too busy watching a cattle ship load 16,000 cows, bulls and water buffalo and construction of the Palm Islands in Dubai.

We got enough for 2 transplants(5 million plus stem cells). After you are tired and have sore arms but not much else.

Went back to where we were staying, packed up and barely made the 5:30 ferry, got home by 9. Nice to be home after 10 days.

Left Dave(friend we were staying with) a bottle of good tequila, 10 limes, a bottle of Triple Sec, and my Recipe for Margaritas....have to be nice your friends.

I am a bit behind, so forgive me.

Friday June 18 - Kale, Booze and Hair Clippers - Should they mix?

Went to dinner at friends on the day before heading to Van for Transplant. If the hair is going to fall out anyway and you are a control freak, what do you do? You know.......


Before - Matt decided to join in and get shaved too. The Mel and Em were just having too much fun. Oh yeah...I am the guy in the Snoppy Shirt.
-Before




Halfway---- I am so pretty...so pretty...lol



After -

Great pictures, Merek. And great friends.

You're a distinguished looking man. You look like you could be a politician or on tv or something, seriously. I hope that didn't sound creepy.

Any time you see the word politician creepyness follows.

Good Pics Merek!

LMAO that's BRILLIANT!

Love the new do!

So where are we at in the process? Are they killing existing bone marrow now?

Interesting preemptive strike against your hair! And I had always thought Canadians were such a peaceful lot.

The hair was unruly for too long. We passive Kanucks will get off the couch to fight bad hair and beer strikes, but not much else.

We must be easy going. How else could you explain that it has been 120 years since we burned the White House down on a drunken road trip with some Engish Buds? BTW - We saw you rebuilt it....it looks nice.

Which distinguished politician? Grouco Marx, Crusty the clown or the Pointy haired boss from Dilbert?

I was kinda thinking supervillain. You think you could make a move into supervillain territory? You might be able to pull off a Lex Luthor, or something. Maybe the Lex Luthor of ... I dunno, breadmaking maybe? You could start small ... you know ... threatening yeast. And work it up from there?

Yes, Today was "Chemo of Death"....although from what the nurses say it is more "Chemo of Nausea" or "Chemo of Death to Bone Marrow", but nurses don't really seem to go for the flashy titles. Me, on the other hand....

KILL BONE MARROW DAY

1. Nurse briefing on how to check in yourself, find a empty room yourself, do your own blood preasure and heart rate, fille out your own chart and most important.....where to find the warm blankets. Do these nurses do anything?.... Joking Katy...
2. First 2 hrs of fluids
3. then 2 small bags of anti-nausea drugs
4. talk to doctor
5. watch Uruguay vs Mexico and Malbec vs Ouzo
6. Chemo of Death for 1-2 hrs - Chemo is Melphalan, which belongs to a group of nitrogen mustard alkylating agents. I don't what that means...but sounds impressive.
7. 2 hrs more of fluids and observation...which really means, leave us alone as we play Scrabble, drink coffee and eat lunch.
8. Pharmacist comes in with a printed schedule for drug taking and 10 prescriptions. 3 anti-nausea. 10? 10!
9. Get prescriptions filled and have cinnamon bun and smoothie while waiting....no nausea yet. I recommend the strawberry banana over the mango smoothie.
10. 5:30 get a little nausea - take drugs. The instruction were.."do not wait to be sure it is nausea and bad, as this will be too late" Apparently taking pills while vomiting is tough. Who would have thought???

My problem is I only have two superpowers currently that cause anguish among the normal unaugmented people. Both are tough to deploy strategicaly.






Super Powers

• Ability to stop hiccupping by thinking about it. While great to have, it lacks offensive options imo as it only affects me.
• Able to drink large volumes of fermented liquids without getting a hangover. Another useful power, but currently diminished by lack of usage, strength of power fading with age and chemo lowering intake. However, it can cause great anguish in those with headaches, upset stomachs and such. Power is deployed by singing, eating and being a dick. All talents I have. Assuming that, singing to cause anguish, is a talent?

If you can control it, I suppose. With me, it's simply a curse.

I'll say it sounds impressive! I remember reading about this in one of my textbooks. a chemical weapon

I like cinnamon buns. Good choice. Are you keeping your weight up? Did the nausea drugs work?

When the nurse puts the bag on the IV stand she literally wears a liquidproof apron and a plastic face shield. None of that stuff for the other 5 IVs. ....she is worried about getting it on her skin and I get it in my veins......nasty.

I lost 18 pounds right away in Jan-March but have gained back 5 the last 2 weeks. So far the nausea is not bad but the next 3 days are likely to be bad unless the drugs work.

Tomorrow I get my Stem Cells back. 3 hours of IV to counter the DMSO that the stem cells are stored in and give me fluids. Then stem cells in afternoon. I am told I will smell like garlic and taste garlic for a while from the DMSO.

Great to hear that things are moving forward, Merek. You seem to be maintaining your great attitude as well.

I can only wish that I would be able to handle this situation as well as you are.

Best wishes for the rest of the procedure, I'll be looking forward to your updates.

I had my kid in to the ER on Sat. for his ankle, (turned out to be just a sprain), and gave him the warm blanket pro tip, which he ignored. The folly of youth.

Go stem cells!

This is very exciting news. Stem cells already? Holy crap things are moving fast. Good luck today and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you that the nausea drugs work well and you are able to keep eating your cinnamon buns!

best of luck merek!

I'm not a proponent normally, but I would be smoking myself silly.
Bon appétit!

Day ONE (this is where they start counting for recovery)

So the actual Stem Cell Transplant was a bit of a anti-climax.

You go in at 8 and get some pre-meds that counter the DMSO. Go home. Have lunch.
Come back at 1:00 to more Pre-Meds and benydrel by IV
2:30 - then 2 small bags of your own Stem Cells....2 hours of observation and go back to rental place. Aside from need a nap for 2 hrs... Ate dinner without a problem and went for a walk for gelato around 9:30. I thought I would be puking, sick and have no taste buds. Instead I have a sore back, but mostly feel fine so far. They seem to have the nausea management planned well. The DMSO is making me smell and leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Only 5 drugs a days some far, start 4 more Friday.

Apparently smoking anything in the next two weeks really ups the chance of lung infections and such. After the immune system comes back a bit it is not a big deal, but now is asking for lung problems.

Next two weeks are all about trying not to get any infections while immune system in absent and control the ones you do get.

Need to stay away from the Herp.

All good news so far Merek. Glad you are feeling OK still!

Really, really happy for you on the relative lack of nausea. Thank God for that.

Hang in there, thinking about you.

How are you feeling today, Merek? Are you watching the World Cup?

(Stay away from everyone! )