Stem cell collection

Nurse Julia

Ouch!

Stem cell collection

On Friday night, Nate began his nightly shots to boost his stem cell production.  Julia is our child who is not grossed out by medical stuff so she cleaned Nate's arm and took pictures for us.  This picture makes us laugh.  Nate was not really in pain, he was making the face of "crud, my wife is giving me shots." A nurse I am not.

We left for Chicago after supper on Monday.  The kids were upset about us leaving for an unknown period of time and therefore I cried after we left.  Everything is becoming real- this is the big event.  Early Tuesday morning he began the collection process.  First they inserted a catheter into his neck, not painful but not pleasant.  His blood draw showed that there were about 9 million stem cells in his blood stream.  The doctor wanted 10 million collected, so we began praying that Nate could get the collection done in one day. (They had told us the collection could take 1-5 days.)  We then sat for about 6 hours while the stem cells were collected.  The collection finished at 4:30 pm and then we waited for 1.5 hours for the lab results to show if enough cells were collected.  And boom! They had 10 million stem cells!  Nate is a stud. And the best news was they took the catheter out right then. Originally we were told the catheter would be removed the following morning.  Nate would have been very uncomfortable sleeping with those tubes dangling from his neck. We then packed up our stuff and headed home- much earlier than anticipated.

We have one last appointment with the Northwestern Doctor on the 27th.  Nate checks into the hospital on April 7 for the transplant.  In the meantime the doctors told Nate to stay healthy (or the transplant will be rescheduled) and enjoy life.

-Please pray that Nate stays healthy!
-We plan on doing a family trip to Boyne Mountain over part of spring break. We hope to get in quality family time before the chaos of April begins.  Please pray for a relaxing and fun time together.

Get those counts up.. And useful blog information

Nate has been feeling good and working this week. His hemoglobin is not high enough for the stem cell collection next week, so he is receiving a blood transfusion as I write this. Please pray that this transfusion gets his blood counts high enough so the collection can begin on Tuesday. We also begin giving Nate daily injections to boost his stem cell production. None of the adults in our home like shots, maybe we'll have Julia give them. Ha! 

Cancer causes fall out and loss in unexpected ways. This week we closed our foster care license. This was a painful decision. Foster care has been part of our family identity for 10 years. We know that perhaps in the future we can provide foster care again, but for now I'm grieving that loss. 

It has also come to my attention that I should give some info about the blog. Most mobile devices only show a reader version of the blog. If you scroll to the end of the blog, you can click on the 'view web version.' Then you will see the whole blog. The meal sign up and help sign up links are on the side of the blog. There is also an email subscription link on the side of the blog, so you will get an email notification when the blog is updated. 

ER..again

On Saturday night, Nate had to go to the ER.  He just felt miserable this past week and then he developed bruises and was fatigued.  We had a hunch his platelets were low.  On Saturday evening we had Julia's 8th Birthday party at Bam- lots of craziness with bowling and laser tag.  When we got home Nate noticed small, red blood spots (petechiae) on his hands and feet.  He called the on call oncologist who said go to the ER and get a blood draw.  Thankfully my parents were in town for Julia's party and could spend the night.

The ER doctor said they rarely see petechiae and asked if he could bring some interns in to see Nate.  And they rarely order platelets for anyone, so we joked how "special" Nate is.  Nate's platelet count was 6- a new record for him. When he had influenza 6 weeks ago and was admitted to the hospital his platelet count was 9.  Anything under 10 and you could start bleeding spontaneously.  (Normal platelet counts are 150-400.) The nurse and Nate had a weird sense of humor going. The nurse said he's never seen someone with a platelet count of 6- who was alive.  Nate laughed, me- not so much.  I don't think we truly understood the seriousness of his platelet count until the nurse put the fear in us- which was hard to hear, but necessary.  He explained Nate was extremely fragile, if he bumped his head he could bleed internally and they would not be able to stop it.  So the ER ordered platelets for Nate. Platelets are a fragile blood product and not kept on site, they have to drive them in from Lansing.  We settled in for the night in the ER.  Thankfully platelets were brought in super fast from Muskegon.  This is the second time Nate has received platelets.  We are thankful for people who donate blood and for the blood bank that coordinates getting blood products out so quickly.

Our oncologist called in and told the ER to give Nate platelets and then discharge him.  Nate is neutropenic again, meaning his immune system is very weak.  The oncologist did not want him admitted to the hospital where he could be exposed to illnesses there.  The doctor said, go home and keep your sick kids away.  Mmm, you mean our kids with colds that have been all over him this week?  Never mind the masses of people he was with at Bam?  Aghh!

Nate was discharged and we arrived home around 3 am.  Nate has to take it easy and will see his oncologist on Monday to check his blood levels again.

While this is all happening, Nate and I can joke and do what needs to be done.  Today, the emotional fall out and stress hit me.  Last night was a reminder of the very fine edge Nate is riding.  If Nate had bumped his head during laser tag or something- I can't even go there.  How do we live like life is fragile, but also live "normal" family life?  I'm not sure there is an answer.

In the meantime

Caleb made this.  Very appropriate

Nate had his last chemo round last week!  We are hoping he never has to be inpatient at Spectrum Hospital again.  The weekend was challenging with symptoms, but Nate is feeling better again.

We went to Northwestern on Tuesday.  It was a long day of tests, but relatively easy.  We met with a nurse who explained the stem cell collection process.  They tell us it could take 2-5 days to collect his stem cells.  While there we met a guy who did it in one day.  You can guess what Nate's goal is.  We also met with the transplant coordinator.  She demonstrated how to give Nate the shots he needs before the transplant.  We also got a better idea of what to expect while he is inpatient and life after he returns home.  I left the meeting thinking, thank you God! I have read and heard about various restrictions post-transplant that had me feeling anxious.  The coordinator explained Northwestern's stance of safe, but least restrictive.  The main concern for Nate post-transplant is bacteria and infections because of his weak immune system.  So for example, he can eat fruits/vegetables as long as they are thoroughly washed. (Except raw tomatoes for a couple months.)  Food needs to be cooked well and no deli meats and so forth.  (Basically like a pregnancy diet.) She said to avoid salad bars and buffets and only go to restaurants we feel are safe.  And in regards to him going out in public, she said just be smart.  Don't go to the mall when it's super crowded, but you don't have to sequester yourself either. He can't swim in pools and lakes for a couple months.  Again, she did encourage us that most of these restrictions are lifted after a couple months.   It was also encouraging to hear her say that Nate could be feeling almost normal about 6 weeks after the transplant.  That is best case scenario, but we need some kind of goal.  We have been very pleased with all of the staff at Northwestern.  We know the next couple of months will be challenging, but we have a goal in mind that hopefully by June, Nate should be feeling back to normal.  It would be pretty great to just have a normal, fun summer.

Please continue to pray that Nate stays healthy and nothing will happen to delay the transplant.  The stem cell collection will begin on March 21.  He will be admitted to the hospital on April 7 to begin the transplant process.