Tuesday was my appointment at the Clinical Apheresis Unit at the Beatson for stem cell ‘harvesting’. What happens is you are linked up to a machine which separates your blood cells into their various components, such as red cells, white cells, platelets etc. In my case the aim was to separate stem cells which would later be used in the transplant process.
It was quite an experience. I had to clock in at 9 am for a blood analysis in preparation for the procedure scheduled to begin at 11 am. That went on until 4. 40 pm so a long day.
I was one of four people in the Unit including one lady from Gretna who was donating stem cells for her brother who is suffering from Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. That is quite a commitment. Not just the travel involved for her - there are only three CAUs in Scotland - but in preparation for apheresis a course of injections has to be taken to stimulate the bone marrow. This can cause bone pain and fatigue and sometimes nausea. And then there is the apheresis itself which in her case took five hours. In so many ways a giving of the self for the benefit of another. I’m praying that things will work out for the brother.
One of the nurses told me that she didn’t expect me to be ‘up or down’ during the procedure and that is how it was. The biggest problem was as my mother might have put it ‘being at peace’, not moving my left arm which had the line drawing out my blood and generally being confined to a chair for five hours. That had its problems since I still had some bone pain in my back and legs from the preparatory injections.
I had ipod and kindle with me of course but found that concentration was a problem. When provided with a dvd player I opted for The Bourne Identity which I had seen at least twice but sometimes you go for comfort stuff. The thing is with earphones in you have to be careful. During a spectacular car chase I shouted ‘Wow!’ bringing two anxious nurses over to see what was wrong. I said: ‘It’s okay. It’s Jason Bourne who has the problem.’
In between times it was fascinating just watching the dark orange fluid that was my stem cells oozing into the bag and hoping that there would be enough for the transplant to go ahead. In the end there was actually enough for two transplants! So I think you can say all went well. I was told to expect tiredness in the aftermath and sure enough yesterday passed in a bit of a dwam enlivened with more Jason Bourne and some episodes from Fawlty Towers. (They wouldn’t get away with that these days!)
Once again, grateful for the hospital staff. At one point Sharon, one of the nurses said to me: ‘I feel I’m neglecting you but you’re not giving us any problems.‘ I said: ‘I can create a few if you like!’ When you are a bit vulnerable it’s good to have the warmth of compassion around you as well as the security of professional expertise.
The next stage is the transplant itself which will be carried out at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. I don’t have date yet bit praying it will be soon.
