Never have I been so happy to feel pain

Never have I been so happy to have pain, but first an update on yesterday (Wednesday).
Yesterday was disappointing; couldn’t harvest the stem cells because even though my neutrophil count had started to rise, it wasn’t high enough to have made stem cell collection possible.

But then, throughout the night I was having mild back pain. I was very happy to have this pain as I was told to expect it because it meant the stem cells were being realised out of my bone marrow into my blood ready for harvesting. Some have said the pain is like labour pain. Please see diagram below, I would have said labour was a 7-8 however this was 3-4 so manageable.

6am came, was in a really deep sleep and was woken up by someone coming to do my bloods; this is to see if my white blood count has gone up and whether I have enough stem stem cells released into my blood. There were so many bottles they needed to fill. I’m getting fed up of being stabbed now as my veins sometimes collapse which means they have to go in again, sometimes deeper than before! The number of bruises I have is crazy.

Neutrophil count came back as 0.6 which is an improvement to the day before which was 0.05. Unfortunately it needs to be over 1 to go ahead with the harvest or go home. So another bit of disappointing news however I have stopped getting my hopes up and trying to go with the flow. I haven’t asked when I’m likely to be going home, I know there is no point until after stem cell harvest.

On reflection I can now tell it was the right decision when I was admitted to hospital; I had symptoms of my MS flare up slightly and I should know that when that happens I’m getting poorly. I’ve had MS for 10 years you’d think I’d recognise it but I think I chose to ignore it as I always do and carry on. The symptoms were numbness down the fronts of my legs in to my feet and my walking had changed and become more unsteady. I can tell now that am feeling better and the anti biotics are working as I no longer have these symptoms. I know what some of you who know me are thinking – when will she ever learn and listen to her body? The answer is, probably never!

Another lesson I have learned is to always say a proper good bye to my babies when leaving for a hospital appointment as you never know when they will keep you in unexpectedly. Not that I think they’ve noticed I’m not there. They’ve been having too much fun with daddy, grandma, grandad and uncle Rob. Not sure how fun they’ve found it, probably more stressful than anything haha. Oh and I’m sick of jay being told that he is Dad of the Year, (his ego doesn’t need massaging anymore). He was told this by the mums at Frog Phonics because he told them that he had to take them both straight to swimming after phonics; just something us mums do on a regular basis!

So feeling more positive. Hoping for harvest today but will let you know.

Bye for now.