Stem cell harvest

There have been many moments over the course of Zac’s treatment where we have marvelled at modern medicine, non-more so than the day of his stem cell harvest.  5 days prior to this he had received daily injections of GCSF to boost his own body’s production of stem cells.  On the day itself, Zac was hooked up to a machine for 4.5 hours during which time blood was taken from his femoral line and passed through a centrifuge that would separate the stem cells from the blood cells.  This precious bag of straw-coloured liquid would be frozen and stored until the time came when it was needed to be infused back into Zac.  The high dose chemo would completely obliterate his bone marrow and as a result his red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.  These stem cells would help his bone marrow to recover and start making healthy blood cells available.

The procedure went well, and they were able to collect enough stem cells in one sitting, meaning we didn’t have to go through the whole thing again the following day.  The nurses were amazing, and Zac grew very fond of one in particular who would later be the one to readminister his precious cells back into him the following month.  Another had the unenviable job of removing the vascath.  Only one of us was allowed in the room at a time so Seb waited outside and could hear Zac’s screams as I help him down tightly while the nurse pulled out the giant cannula from his thigh.  You felt sick to your stomach putting him through such ordeals but had to remind yourself of the necessary evils he would have to endure to hopefully save his life.