The Harvest Failed

Hi Everyone, This is Sibyl,

Yesterday was a difficult day for Stephi.
After days of giving herself two shots a
day to stimulate stem cell growth, we were
told during the pheresis that the harvest
was not going well. The final numbers were these:
We need five million stemcells for the two transplants.
Yesterday's yield was 300,000. Two more
subsequent days of a similar yield will not be enough
for the initial transplant. Crestfallen is
not a strong enough description of the way
Steph was feeling yesterday.

The Transplant Team at KUMED are wonderful.
Late yesterday afternoon, our Nurse Coordinator,
Lynn, was on the phone with back up plans she
was going to present to the team last night. This
morning she called Stephi; we are to meet with
Lynn (Stephi's stepdaughter, Leslie, who is a nurse,
is also going to try to be at that meeting) on Friday
to discuss protocols for using a new experimental
drug and sign the consent forms as soon as Aetna
reviews and approves the protocol. If we can get
the approvals by Friday, we are now looking at a
Harvest date of May 5 -to all my Latino/a friends
Cinco de Mayo- Most propitious, SI! and then,
transplant as soon as possible afterward. Prayers,
Please, lots of prayers.

Love,
Sib