Day -2 and Day -1

May 5, 2017 at 2:27 pm, 2 comments

Well, day -2 was a long one, 12 hours to be exact. We got to the clinic at 8:30 and Ronnie and his fellow HSCTers were put into the apherisis room. They were hooked up to a machine that would harvest their stem cells for 4 hours (they could not get up, unlike chemo they could go to the bathroom) we waited in the chemo room for the results. If they couldn't harvest enough you would have to come back the next day to do it again. Elation erupted in the room when everyone found out they had successfully succeeded their target number of stem cells. Ronnie needed 77 million based on his body weight and I'm happy to announce they retrieved 730 million.

Round three of chemo could begin since everyone retrieved their stemmies.

5 hours of chemo began. It's really amazing how fast the time flies. The comradery with everyone is heartwarming. Everyone is looking after Ronnie; Katherine's husband Don has been such a big help, getting him in and out of his big lazy boy chair and in and out of the van. We will have a connection to these people for life..

We were home to bed by 8:30 so we could be ready for the morning pickup at 8:00.

Day -1

We were picked up early because there was a big parade by the clinic for Cinco De Mayo (Puebla is where this special day originated). Napoleon lll tried to conquer Puebla but he was defeated by the Mexican Army. It's basically like our remembrance day .

It's the start of the last day of chemo! Yeah! 5 more hours again. Dr Ruiz came in and checked up on Ronnie. He wants him to have another round of steroids to help him to feel better. Out of 14 patients with us, Ronnie is the only one that had a reaction to the filgastrim shots. It basically put him into a MS relapse.

Slow and steady wins the race. He's coming around telling his jokes that everyone of you back home have heard quite a few times, but he has a new audience now. Ha ha

We are just waiting for his steroids to finish and if this round doesn't fix him up, Dr. Ruiz said they will do another one tomorrow. Not sure if it will be before or after they all get their stem cells back.

Hasta La Vista!

2 comments - Day -2 and Day -1

Pier Pagano - May 5, 2017 at 4:16 pm

Godspeed Ronnie. I'll be watching your progress from nyc and sending love. Xo

Luisa - May 6, 2017 at 6:20 pm

So glad that you have a new audience Ron. Hopefully you'll come home with some new material. Hang in there, we're all rooting for you! Xo

Day -2 and Day -1

2 comments - Day -2 and Day -1

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