Catheter placement/Stem Cell Harvest

Hoje foi o primeiro dia da coleta das celulas. Nao eh nada simples como os medicos explicavam antes do tratamento, acho que eh justamente para nao assustar antes da hora. Eh demorado, cansativo e dolorido. Devo ter assinado uns 10 documentos de consentimento, assumindo os riscos de cada passo e cada operacao. Cheguei super cedo no hospital, as 7:30 e tudo correu em ponto. Pessoal do hospital eh super organizado, cada departamento confere meus dados e repete todo o protocolo sobre o passado medico, alergias etc. Chega a ser chato ter que repetir tantas vezes, mas prefiro assim que me mandem operar algo por engano… tipo aquelas historias de operarem a pessoa errada…

Comecando tiraram amostras de sangue, picadas de desjejum pra variar um pouco. Depois me encaminharam ao andar onde fazem o procedimento para colocacao do cateter, o qual vai ficar pendurado durante todo o tratamento. Mais picadas, aquela conversa com enfermeiras soh para preencher o silencio (where are you from, etc etc) e me levaram p/sala. Nao era uma sala comum, tinha varios aparelhos de raio X para encontrarem a veia exata. Pedi que me colocassem p/dormir, porque como sou muito “macho”, nao queria ver nada... Entao me deram o que chamo de “pina colada”, e no terceiro “shot” ja estava sonhando… No melhor do sonho, a enfermeira me acorda, me trazendo p/realidade que me esperava.

Me levaram novamente pro quarto onde fica a maquina, onde todo meu sangue passaria pelo cateter recem instalado pra essa maquina, centrifugado e separado. Basicamente esse processo levou 5 horas, as quais passei dormindo pela medicacao que tinha tomado pra dor, so acordando para comer. Alias, comida de hospital eh igual em todo lugar, bem ruinzinha…Coitadinha a Bele ficou la do meu lado o dia inteiro, e Joyce e Chico ficaram com a Julia.

Enfim, saiu tudo conforme planejado, estou com bastante dor no local do cateter, o que deve melhorar em alguns dias. Amanha repito todo o processo de novo para coletar mais celulas e quarta comeca a quimio.

Beijo a todos.

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Today was the first day of collecting cells. This is not as simple as the doctors explained before the treatment, I guess not to scare before time. It is long, tiring ad painful. I had to sign about 10 documents of consent, assuming all the risks of the process. I arrived early at the hospital, at 7:30, and everything happened as scheduled. They are very organized, each department check their information and repeat the protocol about medical history, allergies, etc. It feels annoying to have to repeat everything all over again, but it is better like this, at least there won't be ay mistake... like the stories we hear about operations on the wrong person.

They started by taking blood samples, with empty stomach as usual. Then they led me to the floor where they proceed on the placement of the catheter, which will stay there for the whole time of the treatment. More shots, more chat with nurses just to fill silence (where are you from? etc etc) and they took me to the room. It was not just a simple room, there were many X-ray machines to find the right vein. I asked them to put me to sleep, because as I am very "macho", I didn't want to see anything... They gave me what I call "pina colada", and at the 3rd shot, I was dreaming... The nurse woke me up at the best part of the dream, bringing me back to reality.

They took me back to the room, where my blood, through the recently placed catheter, went trough the machine, and cells were separated. Basically this process took 5 hours. I mostly slept because of the medication I had for pain, ad woke up few times just to have something to eat. Hospital food is the same anywhere, really bad... Poor Cibele, she stayed by my side the whole day, Joyce and Chico stayed with Julia.

Well, everything went as planned, I feel pretty much pain where the catheter is, but it should get better in the next few days. Tomorrow I will do the exact same thing, and on Wednesday I will start the chemo.