Sticker Shock

Sue got her catheter tube in today. This is the tube they use to hook Sue up to the dialysis machine to spin out her stem cells, then put the blood back in. You'd think they could do something to make the darn tubes a little more subtle. But no, instead, after they got them sticking out of her neck they covered them up with a bright red sticker that, well, sticks out like a sore thumb. Sue looked in the mirror and got a little sticker shock.

Sue has a blue scarf she brought along for the occasion. She'd been forewarned by one of her myeloma cancer sisters that they put the catheter in your neck in a visibly obvious place and that she (the cancer sister) did not feel comfortable going out in public with tubes sticking out of her neck. She advised Sue to bring a scarf along. Good advice. We had a nice dinner at a crepe restaurant at the corner of Carl and Cole streets. I'm telling you, it's a young crowd spilling off the N-Judah train there; no gray hairs in the bunch. After dinner we took a stroll down Cole and admired the many colorful Victorian houses.

So the whole stem cell harvest thing is a go. Bridget reviewed the results of Sue's blood tests with Sue this morning and again this afternoon. Her Neupogen shots are working like a charm and her white blood cell counts are very high. Much higher than Bridget anticipated. Importantly, Sue's bone's are kicking out a lot of stem cells. It's looking like a good harvest is in store. We're scheduled to start at 7:45 a.m. tomorrow. Nothin' like the excitement of starting a harvest at first light -- 'ceptin maybe goin' fishin' at first light.