Well…March 6th is almost here

Well March 6th is almost here.  That is the day that I will be readmitted for five days of Chemotheraphy.  Then I have one day off and then they will infuse my clean stem cells back into my body.  Then the fun begins.  As my stem cells begin to grow I will feel very weak but as each day passes, my strength and energy level should also increase.  This should take 5-8 days.Last week I had a reaction to some medication that was given to me and I developed a case of the gout.  Dr. Burt gave me some medication and it took about four days to clear up.Then today I woke up and my picc line was bleeding.  A picc line is when a tube is inserted into your arm, in lieu of an IV, and it extends into my Superior Vena Cava and extends across my chest into my right atrium.  If this bleeds and then gets infected it could be serious if not taken care of.  Again I called Dr. Burt and he saw me within 20 minutes and took care of the problem.Being so close to the hospital and having access to the staff and facilities is great.  I feel so very confident because everything is “First Class”.  Everyone is so accommodating and they take their time to be sure that you are not in any pain.I also want to thank everyone for your continuous support and e-mails.  YOU are my engine which is driving me to overcome this disease.  I want to thank all of you for being there for me.
Again thanks, Mike

My Progress (A Posting from Mike)

Well I just got discharged from the hospital and now I’m back at the hotel recuperating.  I needed to get 2 million of my stem cells and Ionly produced 1,700,000.  So they admitted me into the hospital overnight and started again early in the morning. This time I made it and that made Alice very happy because now she does not have togive me any more injections.  So now I’m off until March 6th.  That is the day that I will be re-admitted for 6 days of Chemo and on the 7th day get my stem cells back. This I’m told is like being reborn and for the next 7-10 days I will feel like hell.  But the way I look at it, if other people could do it, then so can I.   Thank you all for your continued support and prayers. 
Please visit the photopage – there is a photo journal record posted as the journey continues.  

A Posting from Mike in CHICAGO

Hi Everyone,I just wanted to say hello to all of you and tell you what stage I am at now. As of last Saturday, Alice had to start giving me 3 injections every morning. Because my skin is so tight it is tough for her to penetrate the skin without having me wince in pain. She is a real trooper though. These injections are meant to cause my body to produce blood cells and also stem cells. This should be over by Friday because that is when I go to the hospital and they remove blood from my body and send it to a pheresis machine which will separate my blood from my stem cells. The blood is then returned to my body. This process takes about 6 hrs. and is called Harvesting.  The collected stem cells are taken to the lab and counted because I have to get a certain amount according to my body mass. Once this is done and if I have collected enough then the stem cells are cleaned and frozen until they get put back into my body. If they need more stem cells, then I will have to come back the following day and continue the process.Mike