What a day and its not over yet. Today at 9am I was scheduled to have my NK cells extracted which takes about 4 hours. On one arm an IV is placed to collect the cells and on the other arm is another IV for the blood to be returned after going through a machine that extracts out only the NK cells. While just collecting my blood for labs prior to the procedure, my blood clotted. With a count of 359, my platelets are very high and they do their job of clotting--a little too well. So the IV was removed and they moved up on the vein to a different location. Before this was done, however, I cried. I hate needles and have major anxiety when doing this. Today I even took an Advil PM to help relax me which didnt really work. Just after placing the IV for a 2nd time, after the procedure started, I clotted. The IV to return the blood clotted also. The nurse then said that if we cant get it to work for a 3rd time, then they can put a needle in my neck!!!! UHHHH, NO I DONT THINK SO!! At this point, I was convinced that they must be totally crazy if they actually thought I would agree to this! UHHHH hello, I freak out just seeing the needle and sticking it in my arm, so putting one in my neck might actually cause me to have have a heart attack! At this point I knew I just needed to suck it up, so I took really deep breaths, closed my eyes and they put both IVs in again and THEN they gave me some Ativan to help calm me. I think perhaps starting with Ativan would have been the better option, but at least it worked. I finally finished with everything around 3pm. Towards the end of my procedure, Dr. Federico came in to tell me that Waylon needs blood and will need to be on IV fluids tonight. The transplant group is on their way in to examine Waylon since hell be getting my cells tomorrow and his blood transfusion should start in the next 30 minutes since we are already in a room. I am sooooo ready for all of this to be over!!!
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 21:38:35 +0000
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