Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Big C Update II

First, the good, good, GOOD news:

They collected enough stem cells on the first day of harvest.

The average harvesting takes 2-4 days, because they try to harvest enough stem cells for 2-3 transplants. They freeze whatever isn’t used the first time, so that if you need another transplant in 3, 5 or 10 years, at least you don’t have to go through the harvesting again. I steeled myself for 2-4 days, and the possibility of even more. I recently heard of someone who went through eight days of harvesting.

Why is it so easy for me to accept when terrible things happen (in fact, I've grown to expect them), and so difficult for me to accept when something really good happens? Now that I say that out loud, and see it in front of me, I realize how indulgent and self-pitying it sounds; but if you look at my history of the last year, it seems perfectly reasonable.

Every step of this journey, I have been a Murphy's corollary: whatever can go wrong, will... at the worst possible time and place...and will be wrong to a degree never seen before. Everything from the original misdiagnosis to a near-overdose of some meds to fighting DieSuckah for coverage. There has never been a single event, a single test, a single appointment that has gone "better than expected," much less perfectly, until now, For the first time since my diagnosis, something has gone perfectly, and I'm having trouble switching gears and believing it's true.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

La Cootina;

Congrats on the harvest! And thanks for agreeing to share the gory details. Hang in there you sound mean enough to handle this.

I'm day 13 and feel like crap but, engraftment is beginning to open its lovely blossom.

John

La Cootina said...

Good luck, John. I like to think I'm only mean when the situation warrants it, and I definitely hope to kick cancer's ass.

Kathy from NJ said...

Dear LaCootina,
Thank you for agreeing to blog about your transplant. We are all rooting for you.

I could understand the sex questions if you were DONATING your stem cells but since they're collecting them for you I might have answered MYOB.

Karen said...

HOLY CRAP! Congratulations!! I think of the eight days I spent hooked to that machine, and I am very, very, very jealous. :) How many million did you get, if you don't mind sharing?