The last two days have been a roller coaster ride as far as Doug’s fever, pain and nausea is concerned. Each time we ask the medical staff about this turn of events that keep him in the hospital they say “It’s normal."
Doug’s doctor did put off the stem cell harvest originally scheduled for the 13th. He shows no concern at all and tells Doug the dates are flexible and he's still on schedule.
To assist Doug they gave him 1 unit of platelets and two more units of blood yesterday (13th) and another bag of platelets today (14th). His fever spikes to 101 frequently. Fever and pain is most often blamed on the high dose of Neupogen (780 cc) that he gets each day. Even though he is still in the hospital, we are both sure he is where he needs to be. I would hate to be taking him to the ER each time his fever spiked.
I think I've referenced this before but today a nurse explained to Doug that the pain happens when the “baby white cells” are being asked to multiple rapidly and come out from the bone marrow into the blood stream. For Doug this causes sharp pain in his sternum.
Today (14th) we had a neat experience with Doug’s day nurse. She is a fun, vivacious individual who is easy to talk to. We also learned she is a contract nurse with a traveling nurse agency.
Doug said, “Tell me I’m not going to have pain after they harvest.
The nurse replied, “Well my pain lasted for about 3 days afterwards but I went back to work the next day.”
Doug: You mean you’ve been through this?
Nurse: Not as a patient but as a donor for people who are not well enough like you to use their own stem cells. If I am healthy, why not? I’ve been matched 4 times and donated 2 times. The first time was for a 15 year old boy who had acute leukemia. He is now 17 and in remission. The second time was for a 40 year old woman. I’ve heard she is in remission too but I haven’t met her yet.
Doug: You mean you can meet the one you donated to?
Nurse: Yes, you can meet after their first full year in remission.
Doug: Why would you donate two times?
Nurse: I’ve been giving blood since I could and put my name on the National Bone Marrow Donor Registry < http://www.marrow.org/>. I figure since I am healthy and can give someone hope and a better life I should. If I got sick or one of my loved ones did, I’d want someone to do that for me. As far as I know I am the only woman who has donated twice. There have been a couple of men who have donated twice.
Doug: How do they figure out you are a match?
Nurse: They start with blood type but then much of it is based on DNA testing. I don’t know all the details. One time I had an IV in both arms and had to sit without moving my arms for 8 hours straight. I had my DVD player in front of me and someone else put a new one in when it ran out. The hardest part is that they want you to have had lots of milk to drink before the harvest because the transplant depletes your calcium but I couldn’t go to the bathroom while I was hooked up to the machine. Well, they would hold a curtain around me but you have to be on a bedpan and that didn't appeal to me. The second time the harvest was from my hip bone.
Doug: What made the difference in the way they do the harvest?
Nurse: It is up to the doctor to decide what is best for the patient. The donor is not the patient. It is the way the physician feels the stem cells will graft the best to the patient.
Doug: May I ask if you are motivated to do this for others because of a Christian faith?
Nurse: Yes, I’m a Christian. God gave me the health I have and if I take it for granted He can take it away, too. My mother has always appreciated that I loved serving others before this but I’m her baby and when I did it the second time she wasn’t so sure because of the risks involved for me. I don’t even think of the risks. I think of giving hope to someone in need that I match and can help.
Doug and I were blessed by her testimony. It made me think about the fact that it would never have occurred to me to donate for a bone marrow transplant. Blood drives are frequent. We hear a lot about being organ donors. I am now much more aware of the essential need not only for whole blood donors, but also for platelets and bone marrow/stem cell donations.
It also made me think of a Donor that shed His blood on a cross to give all of us hope.
~Carole
