We are celebrating two birthdays in our family tonight. Today is Arthur’s birthday and since I received my stem-cells back today it’s my Birthday too. The hospital looks upon 0 Day as your birthday.

My stem-cells started going back in today. There were three bags total that were given approximately 2 – 2 ½ hours apart. The bags with less cells go in quicker, this has two drawbacks; obviously the bag has less cells but secondly it runs through the line faster, and it seems to hit my system pretty hard. There was nausea as the stem cells went in, but the nausea was not as bad as the pain in my arms and chest though. I was given Atavan and later a Scopolamine transdermal patch which is actually a motion sickness drug. These drugs seemed to alleviate much but not all of the pain. I was however able to sleep much of the day, which has made a big difference.

Before the stem cells come up the, lab “washes” the cells. The way they explained it, they’re trying wash the red blood cells and any other impurities to get as close to pure stem-cells as possible.

It’s been a tough day; the last two days have been tough days. But we’re just taking them one hour at a time. Small triumphs become major events.

The food at MD Anderson is really quite good. They have one small café that stays open 24/7. The patients are given a menu to order from as directed by your doctor. The menu has a good selection and until I got to feeling so nauseous, I enjoyed the meals.