November 8, 2000

November 8, 2000|

Hi Y’all!

I apologize for taking forever to write this latest update. Here it is! Enjoy!

Everyone’s getting hitched!

I don’t know why, but for some reason, most of my best friends have gotten married/are getting married this year or next. Even my medium brother is getting in on the act, with his wedding date set for June 20th, 2001! With that in mind, I hopped on the New Jersey Transit train to Philly and met up with Webmaster Patrick, Greg, and John to celebrate Marc’s bachelor party. We ended up surprising Marc with my visit, as I told him that I wouldn’t be able to make it down because I was too sick. When he got out of the Explorer on Locust and 43rd Street and saw me walking down the sidewalk, he tackled me with giant hug, crushing the catheter on my chest and opening a giant chest wound. Just joking! Ha! Surprises are the best!

No serious injuries actually occurred and we ended up having a great weekend, hitting Marc’s favorite landmarks around the city and recreating points in Marc and Kim’s courtship using Greg’s video camera. Patrick, who is 6’2″, 230 lbs played the part of Kim in the video. We, at least I, hope to get the video up on the Web. The pictures from the weekend will be up on this site very soon! Considering my incredibly difficult and rough previous weekend, it was just amazing to be able to hang out with old college friends and reconnect in person. Very soon, it looks like, I will be the last of bunch to get married, and I am only 22! Wow. The pressure is on.

Bringing in the Herd

Monday was the first day of stem cell harvesting. It is amazing to see how it all works. Attached to my catheter are two tubes. In one tube they connected a hose that took the blood out of my body. My blood then went into a machine and was whirled around, separating my blood into four different components, white blood cells, red blood cells, platelets, and plasma. The white blood cells the machine kept, and the rest was sent back into the other tube back into my body. It was a very easy procedure and best yet pain-free. I just sat there, read the paper and then napped. We needed 7 million stem cells. Monday we gathered 2.8 million, Tuesday we gathered 3.4 and today we collected the remainder.

The best news was not actually collecting the necessary cells. The best news ended up being that I could stop giving myself shots of white blood cells. I remember earlier in the summer watching my friend Robin give herself shots for her arthritis. Whenever she would stick the needle in her thigh, I would freak out, scream like a little girl and run out of the room. I just hate needles and blood. I vowed to Robin that I would NEVER EVER give myself shots like that.

Ha.

SO what happens? We all know. In order to produce enough white blood cells to harvest, I would have to give myself shots of Nepogen, which produce white blood cells. The first time I attempted it, I almost cried. Then I missed my thigh. Then I had blood everywhere and on the couch. My dad was watching the entire time, holding back laughter. The visiting nurse who was teaching me, she almost soiled her drawers. And there’s me sweating blood because I am so nervous to put a little tiny needle in my thigh.

Eventually I learned to do the shots in my stomach, much less painful and easier to insert. Today, when the doctor told me I could quit giving myself shots, I shed a tear of sadness. I had gotten good at it.

I guess we all have fears. Me, you all know what mine is by now. But if you would have told me that I would have gotten used to giving myself shots a week ago, I would have screamed in your face (like a little girl). Now look at me, I LIKE it! It’s amazing what we can do, once we conquer our initial fears. What are you afraid of?

Your Stories and Learnings

Because I believe that this whole adventure of mine is a two way street between you and me, I have been thinking ways to use all of the good stuff I get everyday from you. To do that we have created another page, called “Your Stories and Learnings.” A lot of you write me email responding to my experiences with learnings of your own. Well, we are going to put them up (with your permission). Others of you have inspirational stories that you have shared with me and would like to share with others. We’ll put those up too. If you too have learned something from my experience and my stories, share that too. Just e-mail me at learnings@artcanning.com and we will post them up. I look forward to seeing your responses.

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