Madison started her growth factor shots on Friday April 19th. These shots stimulate the bone marrow to make more blood cells. She received these daily until Wednesday, the 24th. She was a champ and handled them like a trooper. Although she felt like she was 90 with bone aches/pains, being tired and some GI issues, I will still say she is strong as hell and took it like a badass. Monday she got her central line placed in her chest. Tuesday she started stem cell collection. Her chest looks pretty beat up from where they placed the central line. It is very bruised and quite tender. Looks like she took a good beating however, Madi ensures me the other guy looks worse😂. 

Stem cell collection was quite fascinating to me. The machines and science that is put into these is quite amazing! It pulls out blood and spins it like a washing machine on the spin cycle. The cells then break into three different bags, plasma, red blood cells, and stem cells.  They keep the stem cells and give her back her red blood cells and plasma, They're cycles just like wash machine cycles. For 30 minutes it pulls out these cells then spins them to separate, then flips to put the red blood cells and plasma back into her body. They repeat this cycle 15 times. Yes it was an all day process! Was similar to that of donating plasma just a lot more separation going on and the machine is a lot bigger and louder. She needed to collect 5 million stem cells and was able to complete this in 2 days. This allowed us to be done earlier than originally scheduled, giving her a weekend off to just enjoy it and go home before we start the chemo and hospital admission. 

Monday morning she will start daily infusions for 3 days. These infusions are to build the protective lining in her mouth in hopes of protecting against mouth sores. Thursday she will be admitted to the hospital for her chemo. She will stay impatient until she is done with her 4-5 days of chemo and stem cell transplant. Total approximate stay is guesstimated approximately 7-10 days depending on how one handles it. She will then be able to go to our temporary home in the cities. She will need to  go in for daily appointments, labs and possible supportive care depending on what she needs. (ex: blood transfusions, platelets, fluids, etc)

We all have been trying to adjust to our temporary home and our new way of living. We know it is just a stop on the path to where we are heading but, it has not been an easy one. I just want you all to know that your prayers, support, fun cards in the mail including coloring sheets from the kiddos, and well wishes has meant so much to all of us. Love to you all!