Well, most people don't go back to work for 3-6 months after a bone marrow transplant. The semester starts in 2 months. Obvious problem. I tried to convince him that teaching in the classroom was only three days a week and not the same as a 40 hour a week job. Since then everyone has pointed out to me that it's usually a 60 hour a week job during "grading season." I have to admit they've got a point.

So, the doctor pretty much emphasized that I really needed to take at least three full months off and six would be better. My boss is looking into getting me a paid medical leave of absence, so I should be set. I won't teach in the fall. *sigh* I'll just continue to do some computer work for the department -- I can't not do anything!

After I finished with the doctor, another of the nurses took me a tour of the facility and we talked about what I can and cannot bring for the transplant itself. Oddly enough, they don't want me bringing my skateboard despite the beautiful expanses of nice linoleum. Evidently they worry about my falling and bleeding out because my platelet counts will be low. Whatever.         ;)

I get to bring my computer, a bunch of Batman animated video tapes and my customizing gear. The room looks pretty cool and they'll even bring in an exercise bike for me to use.

6/6/01
Okay, so I've done my three day stint and I've also been through the stem cell collection. Both were pretty uneventful overall. The three day stint involved my having Psitoxin (I'm sure I spelled that wrong -- put it down to too many years of sci-fi/fantasy books). I got three bags of Psitoxin over about a 24-36 hour period. Pretty much one right after another. The chemo itself wasn't all that bad. I got sick my requisite one time and then I was fine. Before they started the chemo, though, they gave me a Central Line. This is basically a tube that runs through my heart and sticks out of my chest. With everything I've been through, this thing is the only thing that I've really complained about. It makes me nervous!! I mean, I have a tube sticking out of my chest! I have to flush both lumens (the tube has a Y joint where it splits off into two tubes) with Heperin every day. I have to change the clear plastic dressing over the Central Line every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It didn't really hurt when they put it in (I was awake for it -- it was kinda cool), but my muscles were unbelievably sore for nearly a week afterward. The exit site still stings if I do too much, so I now have a built-in guard against doing too much physically!

After I went home, I had to give myself two shots of Neupegen every evening. Unfortunately, the hospital gave me vials of Neupogen and empty syringes. The clinic had given me filled syringes. So, I had to draw the medication out of the vials myself. This was only unfortunate in that the needles were a different kind and it was really hard to push them through my skin! Despite these white blood cell producing shots, by Friday, my WBCs were below 1,000. However, by Monday they were 9,690! This wasn't quite enough to start the apherisis with, so I went back to the Hope Lodge in Indy to wait another day.

The apherisis was really dull. :) I sat on a bed for about seven hours while a machine took a small amount of blood out of one end of my Central Line, ran it through a centrifuge, took out the white blood cells (mostly) and then gave me the rest of the blood back through the second end of my Central Line. Meanwhile, I finally got around to reading Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. Awesome story line!!! I really loved it. However, I was about two hours short of things to do. Even the Game Boy didn't seem to help much. At any rate, we collected all the stem cells we needed in that one day!

Next stop: The Transplant!! >>

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