As promised in Prayers Received and Accepted, Donna is sharing the details of harvesting her stem cells for her brother.
On Tuesday, the 16th, 9 am, after
giving myself a final shot of Nuepogen, I was hooked up to the machine which
draws the blood from my left arm, collects my stem cells, transferring them to
a bag, and replaces my blood back to my body (heated) through my right arm. I expected it to be like giving a blood
donation but soon discovered that it was a little more trying then that.
I was all set up on my lounge chair,
legs up, head back, laptop on my knees, books by my side and snacks.
I thought this would be a 6 hour
leisurely process, including movies, books and food; my body reacted otherwise.
Because calcium is being drawn from your
blood, you start to shiver, shake and tingle. It was a very strange sensation, which means
you need to suck on some tums and be hooked up to calcium. After awhile, that
tingling sensation turns into numbness, exhaustion and apathy. You feel as if your soul has been drained out
of you. As a matter of fact, you feel
just plain lousy. However, when I was
told that the bag is filled, the target has been reached and you are being
unhooked, I knew I would have done it again.
Throughout the process I held hematite stones in each one of my hands, with the intent of transferring them to my
brother's hands on the day of his infusion. I kept repeating to myself that this is going
work, that I am giving good, healthy healing cells to my brother. At the
end of the experience, I broke down in tears of relief: 1) because of the
realization of how much the people around me are suffering, and 2) knowing that
this bag of gold will soon give my brother new bone marrow, good health and
well-being.
Yesterday, the 16th, my sleeping
brother received the stem cells. The hematite stones were placed next to his
right and left hands. After 2 hours, when the process was done, I removed the
stones to put in the sun lit window, which practically burned a whole through
my palms. That blew my mind!!!
My brother, Brad, is feeling
reasonably well and now it is a matter of keeping him comfortable, in good
spirits and positive so that he will absorb the new cells. Prayer, meditation, laughs and love are the
daily requirements. Taking each day as
it comes is another. I am looking
forward to seeing what today brings. Shabbat Shalom, Salam, Peace.
B'ahava
Nameste,
2 comments:
Thank you for sharing such a moving story of love for your brother. I am blown away by the sacrifice that you've made and I pray he recieves it to grow stronger and stronger every day.
Bless you both!
Your brother is really blessed to have a sister like you! I'm also praying that he gets stronger every day.
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