Today has not been a day that I felt good. I have run a slight fever today and generally not felt well at all. My white count was 0.10 and my platelets were 7. I did receive a bag of platelets. I got the high powered chemo, melphalan, one week ago today.

I continue to feel better today than I did two days ago. The nurses tell me that I will get to feeling worse so I will see how that goes but for now I feel good. My white count came up a bit today but they said it was because I started on the growth factor shot yesterday and it will come down to where I have almost no white count at all. I will continue on the growth factor shots until my levels are back to normal. My white count was 1.46 today my platelet level was 13. I will have to get platelets tomorrow and possibly another unit of blood. They are trying to keep my hemoglobin level above 8.5.
Getting my blood samples drawn here at the apartment worked out really well. When we got to UAMS they already had the samples tested and I received the results. I really liked that.
I hate to complain but can't they find some nurses another job to do other than nursing? A male nurse was changing the bandage on my neck, which covers the CVL line entry into my neck. He was taking the bandage off and pulled a big hunk of skin off of my neck and it did not feel good and still does not. He was simply going too fast and too rough to make it come off correctly. Pulling hair out with tape does not feel good but that is no comparison to pulling your skin off with tape.
I will stop complaining and let you go on enjoy your day or your evening. Thanks for following along with us and caring.

I got the last of my stem cells today and that took most of the day to get that completed. They tell me that I got a total of 4,700,000 stem cells in all. I will still have about 700,000 stem cells in storage. They tell me it will be 5 to 10 days before the stem cells start rebuilding the bone marrow which is been wiped out by the chemo I got last Wednesday. During the times that I was actually getting the stem cells there was the APN who was responsible for manual infusion of the stem cells, a doctor overseeing the operation, two nurses and a person from the area responsible for storing the stem cells in the liquid nitrogen.
I felt better today than I did last night and I was not running a fever today as I was last night.
They have a program for UAMS myeloma patients staying in these Park Avenue Lofts apartments. They come early and draw the blood before the appointment at UAMS. I have never taken advantage of that program but we will start doing that tomorrow so when we arrive at UAMS/MIRT they should have my blood results already completed and ready to review to see if I need anything. This should save lots of time.
Thank you to all our wonderful friends and family for your support.

Today's update will be brief. I'm not feeling as well as I have been in the past few days. I started running a fever about midday. I have started on an antibiotic now. My platelets ran 23 today and my white count was 1.46. I will get my last bags for the stem cell transplant tomorrow.
It was beautiful weather here today with low humidity and decent temperatures. From what I hear, just like at home. A few days ago the heat index was 110 in this area.

We were at MIRT today about three and a half hours getting blood work done and questions answered. It looks like I will have to get a unit of blood tomorrow since my hemoglobin today was 8.2.
My platelets were down from 34 yesterday to 26 today. My white blood count yesterday was 4.07. Today it's 2.57. It looks as if I'm heading into the time that I will have no immunity and I will have to be very careful.
I have not mentioned how my neck is doing after the surgery with the seven or eight inch incision starting at my skull and going down my back, but it continues to improve with less pain when I move my head up and down and back and forth. I had been concerned that it might retain that pain but it is improving.
Thank you all for all the prayers and support.

I went today and got 3 more bags of stem cells. I will not get any Saturday and Sunday then I will go back Monday and get 3 more bags and that will complete the stem cell transplant. I will have to be it the cancer center Saturday and Sunday but that'll just be for checkups and getting blood work done in any corrections that need to be made. I'm trying to eat foods with potassium in them because if I have to get a transfusion of potassium it takes 10 hours to get that. They can't run it faster than that because it causes heart failure. The process of getting the stem cells went very smoothly today but I was there from 9 a.m. until about 4 p.m. getting that done. I always have to wait afterwards until I complete a bag of saline and today that took about two and a half hours extra. It was causing my heart rate to drop and they had to run it slower.
My lab work showed that my platelets had decreased from 42 yesterday to 34 today I expect lots more decreases in the next few days. They also keep telling me that I will start feeling real bad soon. If I feel bad enough during those days, I probably will not do a blog entry but we'll see how it goes. Some people make it through without this sickness and so forth that they tell me I will have.
I'm so hoping and praying that this chemo treatment that I have received will kill out the myeloma. I know you're praying the same and it's very much appreciated. Thank you all for your support it is needed and appreciated so much.

In the photo above is one bag of my stem cells. I thought you might want to see what they look like. I don't think you can see it in the photo, but the stem cells look kind of grainy in appearance. It took us over three and a half months being down here in 2013 to get these 10 bags.
I failed to post last night what yesterday's platelet count was. It was 48 yesterday, and was 42 today. So that means it's probably started back down due to the chemo I have received. I will not receive any platelets now until it gets down to 10. That is unless I have unexpected bleeding.
I received my first stem cells back today. As you remember, they were collected in early 2013 and kept frozen in liquid nitrogen since then. There is a total of 10 bags of stem cells. I received four of them today. I will receive three of them tomorrow and the other three on Monday. The APN that is assigned to me while I'm getting the stem cells told me today that in the next 3 to 4 days I will start feeling really bad. That will continue until I have recovered. Some people have reactions when they get their stem cells back due to the preservatives that are used with the stem cells. I felt fine all during the time I was getting the stem cells back. It took a couple of hours, and then I had to wait two hours after I got them to make sure I wasn't getting some kind of a reaction. It was interesting, a lady from the place where the stem cells are stored brought one bag at a time and after it was infused, she would bring another bag.
My white count today was 3.74 but it will soon start to go down because of the chemo. They forecast it to get near zero. At that point I won't be able to be around any people except medical people at the infusion area where I go and Reta. They tell me this condition, since I am a slow recovery person, could last a couple of weeks or more.
Thank you all for the nice comments and other communications to us. They are very much appreciated. It lets us know you're going through this with us and that means a lot. Thank you!