Stem Cell Donation – Day 5

8-26-11

If you are reading this because you are going to be a stem cell donor, the summaries for the next few days should be of interest.  Today I started my Neupogen injections.

Neupogen is a brand name for a type of drug known as Filgrastim.  It has been used for more than 30 years, being one of the early pharmaceuticals produced through recombinant DNA technology.  It was created when a human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor gene was combined with genetic material from E. coli bacteria.  The bacteria are then able to produce genetic material that can be injected into a human and cause certain blood cells called granulocytes – including white blood cells called neutrophils – to be produced in large numbers.  Even more importantly, it causes hematopoietic stem cells to be released from the bone marrow into the blood stream.  As I mentioned earlier, those are the cells that are gathered and transplanted.

This morning, I filled a prescription for the Neupogen and was instructed on how to give the shots necessary to get it into my bone marrow.  I gave myself two shots into the fatty layer of my abdomen, one on each side.  Tomorrow I will neeed to give myself the shots in the fatty layer of each thigh and I will continue that rotation until the collection of the stem cells is completed.  I thought that was going to hurt, but it didn’t.

I was also instructed concerning possible side effects, which are mostly pain:  bone pain, muscle pain, joint pain.  There are some more serious side effects that are possible, but those are much less common than the various kinds of pain.

Within the first hour after the shots I began to feel a “rush” from the drug, which soon subsided.  A few hours later I began to feel a moderate pain in my rib cage.

Meanwhile, my brother was at the hospital receiving a blood transfusion.  It had been a week since his last transfusion and his hemoglobin levels were very low.  As I mentioned previously, he is really being kept alive by transfusions now; thus, the need for the transplant.

Since this is Friday, and nothing is scheduled at the hospital until Monday, Paul and Deb decided that they would go back to their home in Austin for the weekend.  I had asked a doctor earlier if I would be able to go with them and was told that I should stay close to an emergency room in case I experience any serious side effects, but whether I went to Austin or stayed in Houston was left to my judgment.  I had to choose between (a) staying by myself in a strange city with no one around to help in case of complications and no car, and (b) being with family in a more comfortable home, with access to hospitals and medical care.  It seemed like a fairly easy choice.  I picked (b).

If I had to do it over, I might pick (a).  Riding in a car for 200 miles, my ribs felt every bump in the road and my stomach was a little queasy (another fairly common side effect).

I am allowed to take Tylenol for pain, but not things like aspirin, ibuprofen or Alleve because those act as blood thinners.  I got through the whole day without needing Tylenol, but I believe that I will take one before I go to bed.

In summary, the first day of Neupogen was not so bad except for the discomfort I brought on myself.