I am going back into hospital on the 7th of July for a week of preparation for the Stem Cell Transplant. This involves 3 days of radiation therapy and 2 days of chemotherapy. It is expected that I will then get my sister’s stem cells on the 14th of July. Expectation is that I will be in hospital for around 4-5 weeks. Fingers crossed I can get out early.
Will keep you posted.
I had my wisdom teeth removed on Friday. It was a painless procedure. A little bit of swelling but no problems the next day. My eyes are a bit bloodshot in the photo, must have been the anaesthetic. The anaesthetic is different to the bone marrow biopsy anaesthetic, I can feel myself going under with this anaesthetic and I was rather groggy for a while after waking up.
Got the results from the bone marrow biopsy yesterday. I am still in remission which means the transplant is on track for the 7th of July.
Tomorrow I have my wisdom teeth removed.
A busy week this week.
Had my bone marrow biopsy on monday. Nothing unusual happened.
On Tuesday I had the Total Body Irradiation Planning (TBI to us pros). I will be getting three days of irradiation when I go back to hospital in two weeks, 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the evening. The planning consists of me having a CT scan while laying down with my arms crossed, legs up, and bags stuffed next to me. This is used to work out how where to stick the lead shielding so that I get a nice even dose and to protect my lungs and kidneys. Apparently there is a 5% mortality rate from this 
Today I had the dental review, ECG, and lung function test.
The dentist found a few spots of infection in my wisdom teeth (in the gums) and a little spot in a root canal I had cleared out a few years ago. The infection is minor and is normally not much of a problem but when you have a transplant it can be a major problem. It can cause an extremely bad infection and I am guessing this could mean something like septic shock in the extreme case? The upshot of this – out with all four wisdom teeth and a bit of a dig into the root canal to clear out a loose piece of crap. This bit of fun will take place at the end of next week. At least it will be done under a general anaesthetic.
The ECG was routine, stick a few sensors on the chest and ankles and let the computer do its thing. Took all of 5 minutes.
The lung function test was a bit more interesting. The part I was expecting was OK – blowing into a machine a few times. I had to blow a bit harder than I expected. If I blew for much longer I was half expecting a lung to come out. I had to do this about 10 or 15 times. Still, not too bad.
The hard part of the lung function test was the first part – a blood sample to see how much oxygen is in my blood. The blood is not taken from a vein but from an artery a bit further into the meat of my arm. The needle goes in vertically. I was OK for a minute or two while the nurse searched around for the artery with the needle, the damn artery would not behave. Now I should mention that me and needles like this don’t get along – we have a bit of history. I can handle taking blood in the usual manner, even with a bit of ‘searching’ and you can give me a flu jab etc with no problems. When it comes to extended digging or cutting I tend to go all white, feel faint and express the need to have a chunder. It has happened a few times before when it took five or six attempts to find a vein for a blood test one time and also when they had to poke/dig around a bit when a PICC line was being put in. It also happened this time. I came within a nanosecond of chundering. I broke out into sweat – my shirt ended up covered in sweat. It was bad. Fortunately the nurse decided that was enough and gave up. The nurse then took a tiny sample from the end of my finger much like a diabetic does to check their blood sugar levels. This was mostly OK although I was still a bit iffy and felt a bit funny. It did not help that no blood would come out and it took three goes before they also gave up on this. It could be worse, I could be a Hawthorn supporter hey Kingy 