Our day started with hearing that Addie's counts went way up... Her ANC was over 1000, YAY!! We also heard that her stem cell collection would be today!
I was definitely overwhelmed with the stem cell collection... keeping a very busy two year old in a bed for over three hours (not during nap time) would give any Mom anxiety and then I also get the stress of the actual procedure!
The procedure was very rocky the whole way through. There were multiple points during her collection that we thought her lines were not going to work and that a catheter in her groin would be needed, but once again the Lord prevailed and prayers were answered!!
We were taking a break for the second time after 2 1/2 hours of collecting to put what I refer to as Drain-O in her white lumen/line (Cath-flow or TPA is what I think it is technically called? It is a chemical that breaks up clots in her line and removes blockages). Her white lumen tends to be a bit finicky and today was no exception. It was clogging and causing the machine to shut off. It was also causing the machine to collect at a very slow rate. We were told that if the Cath-flow didn't work this time we would have to put the additional catheter into Addie's groin to finish the collection, a surgery that would have added risks and also added pain.
There is a maximum amount of blood that can be removed during a stem cell harvest. Addie's collection was going very slow and because of this we were going to exceed that maximum amount before we reached our targeted amount of stem cells. It definitely isn't beneficial for a little lady who is already struggling to maintain her hemoglobin and platelet levels to have excess blood removed.
Just as we placed the Cath-flow the nurses received a call from the doctor stating that Addie's blood test had come back and her stem cell circulation was through the roof!! It was so high in fact that the amount we had already struggled to collect (far less than what was planned) was going to be more than enough!!! The amount they require is 20 and Addie had 197... Praise Jesus, what an awesome God we have!!
So to sum up a very long and wordy story... Stem cell harvest was a success, more than a success, a VICTORY!! Hopefully the beginning of many victories along this road to defeat Naughty Randall!
Please continue to pray that Addie's scans on Friday show profound improvements and that her bone marrow biopsy shows no circulating cancer cells!! Also pray that she would have minimal pain following the biopsy and that she would feel good for her birthday and the few days she has at home!!
