A few days ago, I finally wrote about the stem cell transplant which took place last week! I need to bring you up to speed on all things neutropenic. According to Wikipedia, ‘neutropenia is an abnormally low concentration of neutrophils (a type of white blood cell) in the blood. Neutrophils make up the majority of circulating white blood cells and serve as the primary defense against destroying infections ….’ You can Google it. I don’t want to take too much space on the definition. Just know that those white blood cells have been attacking my CNS for 15 years and I am here to replace them with healthy, non confused white blood cells.

The transplant took place on June 15th. On June 17th I had my first blood draw at 8:00am. At noon, I had my appointment with the doctor. My white blood cells (wbc) had dropped to 1,000. Typically, we have 4,000-12,000 of them. This was good. I would get another blood draw in 48 hours, on June 19th.

As you can imagine, all of this going on in the body is pretty confusing to the body, and I’m pretty sure that my body was MAD! Actually, I’m pretty sure that my body has been mad since about June 4th! I guess those Terrorists aren’t taking too kindly to their exit. The next two days were filled with my usual dry heaving and really feeling like crap! I was back to not being able to bathe myself and feeling like I was burning up all of the time. I did start running some low grade fevers. I think that the highest got to 100.4. So not only was I back to being bathed, but it had to be a luke warm shower to bring the fever down. On top of that, I tend to dry heave in the shower. As if I already wasn’t enough for Dick to deal with!

Two fun filled days of this. Had my next bloodwork drawn on June 19th. Met with the doctor – oh, wait, did I mention that since I was so sick and weak that Ana would just load me into the wheelchair for all of my appointments, going to the roof, anywhere. I need that big orange wristband that says ‘Fall Hazard.’ You get that fun wristband when you have a cane and walk like a drunk. At this appointment, my wbc had dropped to 200. My red blood cells were on the cusp of me needing a transfusion. In hopes to avoid this, it was decided to give me two Filagrastim shots a day to help the bone marrow receive the new stem cells.

On June 21, I went in and the wbc count was staying at 200. This was fine. I did let the doctor know that I had been sick multiple times since the transplant. He said that this was not uncommon as the chemo is still leaving the body. That damned chemo! Ana had told me that coming out of neutropenia can take 7-10 days. She reassured me that I was right on track. Wow, this track has been nothing but sucky, but I have to focus on the end result.

I woke up on June 22, and felt the best that I have felt in many weeks. I showered myself, ate a good breakfast, blogged, and mostly hung out on the couch. I walked to the roof. I actually told people that I really thought that I had turned the corner! Well, as you may have heard, Karma is a bitch and boy, she was not happy at all that I was assuming that I had turned the corner!

I woke up around 4:30am on June 23 feeling like death warmed over. I was so stinkin’ mad! I was so over it! WTH, I used my brain for about 2 hours the day before and I get THIS!? Since it was 4:30am and I was on the couch, I just finally cried a bit. When I say a bit, I really mean a lot. I mean, really! Is this ever going to end? We leave on June 26. That is three days! I just couldn’t wrap my head around this timeline. On top of this, today will be our last Mexican Breakfast! Would I even be able to eat it? It was like adding insult to injury!

The nurse drew more blood and at 12:00, Dick and I met with The Legend, Dr. Ruiz. He informed us that my wbc were at 12,300, that I had had a successful transplant and that I was scheduled for the Rituximab infusion on June 24 at 10:00am. I then just figured that all of this being sick and feeling horrid must be in my head? I don’t even know!

When we got back to the room, I asked Ana, the Great my questions. She told me that since my wbc were where they were supposed to be, but I had been receiving the Filagrastim shots, that my body was working overtime and it was DONE! Hence the sick. Well, nothing stayed down for dinner. Ana ordered me a chicken sandwich right before the kitchen closed. I couldn’t eat it but I knew it was there in case I woke up in the night and felt any better.

I did wake up around 4:00am and I did feel better. You know, after all these days, you would think that I would just trust Ana! I ate a few saltines and when they stayed down, I did eat a bit of that chicken sandwich. Next step was the Rituxan infusion at 10:00. More on that later.