Harvest Day

Today and tomorrow Julie will have her stem cells harvested. Julie arrived last Sunday. She and I spent last Tuesday downtown for her pre-donation physical. On Friday, she received word that all the tests results were fine. That night she started Neupogen injections to boost her stem cell production. Tim's sister Sharon arrived on Sunday. She is acting as Julie's chauffeur and errand runner while Julie is hooked up to the donation machine.

Meanwhile, Tim will continue to receive arsenic and methotrexate through the first week in February. His blood counts have improved to the point where he is no longer neutropenic. We now know why he got so ill from the methotrexate a week and a half ago. It turns out that the nurse withdrew 5ml of fluid instead of the usual 3ml. We (Tim, the nurses and I) are all relieved to have solved that mystery. Last Friday's dose went much better.