The second day of stem cell collecting is over and they gathered about 200 cc. The collection yesterday yield 800,000 stem cells and the target number is 5,000,000 so we have a way to go. I was a little disappointed but Dr. Anderlini said it was really better than he had expected. He said he is “casually optimistic” and felt with several collections, we will get the number we need. He said with my situation, he did not expect me to just throw stem cells at them.

I always ask questions about what is going on with my treatments. I asked today about the blood going through the machine and was told it goes through three times each collection. The time it takes depends on the size of the patient because the larger the patient, the more blood they have and it takes longer. My collection time is 3 hours each time and I am glad I am a small person. He said he had one patient who took 6 hours per collection. Now know what this really means, you are on your back in bed, hooked up to a machine and there is NO leaving that bed until the time is over. No matter what the reason, you are there until the treatment is over. This might be another good reason to practice weight control. We go back tomorrow for the same routine.

Any fellow Waldenstrom or Amyloidosis patients should discuss the possibility of a future transplant with you doctor before certain treatments are given to them. If I had known that 2Cda was so myelosuppressive, I would have collected my stem cells and had them frozen for future use. The 2Cda gave me several years of valuable time but it has made the collection more difficult.

Arthur was valedictorian of his class and passed his test on flushing the catheter and changing the cap.

Numbers on 2/3/2005:
White Blood Cell Count - 67.4
Red Blood Cell Count - 2.89
Hemoglobin - 9.9
Hematocrit - 28.8
Platelet Count - 152
Creatinine Serum - 3.1