Stem Cell Harvesting - Day 3

From Tim's sister Sharon:

Note from the stem cell buddy: You may wonder why this is the Day 3 message, after yesterday's message....turns out that Julie didn't donate yesterday, after all, despite how positive the email sounded. Her platelet count was too low, so there was some concern that she wouldn't have enough left for clotting after they take the catheter out of her neck. So, they sent her home to build up the platelets a bit and take some more neupogen and come back today. So, this morning, we knew she'd get hooked up for harvesting, the only question was for how long. Julie's message for today, starts below.....

Greetings from Northwestern Memorial Hospital!

I'm multi-tasking - harvesting stem cells and writing this email at the same time. We're doing a half collection today (10 liters). We started around 9:30 am and should be done with harvesting around Noon. Then it'll take about a half hour to get the catheter removed from my neck. The donation process will be over, Sharon and I will be free to go and I'll be heading home tomorrow.

My platelet count was 110 this morning before the harvesting began. So it's about the same as yesterday. But seems like the 3 shots of Neupogen last night are kicking in - it's estimated that over 5 million stem cells will be collected today (which would top my personal best from Tuesday of 4.37 million).

Thanks, Sharon, for being a great stem cell harvesting buddy. She's used to getting up early in the morning, she doesn't mind driving in snowy weather, and she's able to keep herself entertained during those stretches at the hospital where's there's nothing that needs doing (e.g., like when you're waiting for test results or catheter insertion or a visit from the Harvest Coordinator). Also, like she said in her email yesterday, she's taken lots of photos to document this experience.

Things have gone relatively smoothly. Hopefully this trend will continue into the transplant phase. Please continue to pray for and send positive energy to Tim, Jen, Theo, and Brendan.

Bye for now,
Julie