PET Scan and T- Cell Harvesting!

Hello everyone I am going to try and update you as much as I can as things are somewhat difficult to follow. First the big stuff: PET Scan was done today (Monday, Feb. 19) we are looking for PET Negative everyone so start the vibes flowing! We will get the results tomorrow afternoon so that is obviously on our minds every second right now. The second big thing is the initiation of the stem cell harvest. Pam has been getting a shot of Neupogen, a very expensive drug,($3,800 for 8ml, thanks BC/BS!) that stimulates the growth of the T-cells for the last 10 days. We went in on Sunday and did the first round of blood circulation to get some of the cells. Very high tech. Basically it is just like dialysis, and takes place in the same lab. Pam gets hooked up to the machine for 5 hours, with one tube drawing blood out and the other tube putting it back in. The machine spins it and separates blood platelets to get the T-Cells. (very simple version of what is really happening) We need 5 million! On the first try we got .35 not what we were looking for :(. It turns out that the blood counts were off and she probably should not have even been hooked up yesterday. We go back up for blood counts every day and will wait for the results. If they counts are good enough we go upstairs to good old Shep 4 to harvest again. It will probably take two more times at the minimum. That is what we will be doing most of this week.
The results of the PET Scan will tell us the next steps. Negative means get ready for the High Dose of Chemo. and the Stem Cell transplant. Positive (which we are sure will not happen :) means another round of ICE treatment and wait for a PET scan again.
Pam continues to be a trooper and is so tough! I am amazed every day of not only her strength, but of the other patients we have been meeting. The emotional ups and downs continue, as expected, but good news tomorrow will help that a great deal, so stay tuned for the news. I will update this again tomorrow as soon as I can to let you know what we find out.
Troy.