3/10/2013 – Miracles, one after the other…

Two to three days, I was told many times, would be how long it would take to collect the amount of stem cells they wanted to freeze for me.  Ok, I can handle that.  The procedure didn’t sound too bad, and wasn’t as I went through it this past week.  I had to give myself a few shots to stimulate the production of stem cells in my body, and get them into my bloodstream.  No big deal.  The Neupogen made my back and hips a little achy, but it wasn’t that bad, and the Mozobil was a little weird, but also not bad.  Monday morning, I went in for blood work and to put in a jugular venous catheter (also weird to have a couple tubes handing out of your neck).  The blood work came back fine, as it has been!  The CB34 number they were looking for to be at or above 6 came back at 30.  Apparently this is not a great indication of how well the collection will go, and 30 is pretty good, but not as spectacular as I thought when I first heard…  I went in for the first collection day Tuesday morning and told the nurse to get ready for a miracle as she showed me to my bed, because I’m going for 12 million.  6 million stem cells per kg of body weight is what they were looking for, but I was a little zealous because of what God has been doing through my journey so far.  I was quickly humbled by the Holy Spirit, as He whispered in my heart that God promises to provide what we need, so don’t get too cocky…  I had a great nurse, she was very encouraging and pulling for my miracle.  I got hooked up to a machine that in some amazing way, takes my blood, spins out the stem cells, and puts the rest back in for about three hours.  About two hours into it, the doctor doing rounds came by and looked at my charts and numbers.  Quite less than encouraging he said that my numbers looked ok, but “don’t get your hopes up… probably three days, maybe two, but you won’t be done today… unless a miracle happens.”  I just smiled real big and thought to myself, “well, now you asked for it.”  After I finished up that day, they said I would hear my results around 4:30 or 5:30pm.  I got some lunch and went back to the hotel…  prayed, read a book, talked to Jas and the kids, and got a phone call…  “Brady, we got your numbers back…  6.9 million…  you’re done.”  I wasn’t surprised, but I was praising God!  Every step of this process, walking with God is humbling and amazing.  I didn’t produce these numbers, there is nothing I could do…  Whether God made the right conditions with the right drugs and the right doctors at the right time, or whether He just doubled the cells like He fed the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish, I don’t know.  But what I do know is that the doctor said it wasn’t going to happen, and it did.  And it was pretty awesome because I got to go back and see the doctor and nurses the next day to get my jugular catheter pulled.  I was all smiles, and I pray God was honored as I tried to give Him the credit for the amazing results…  Thanks you for your continued prayers, God is being glorified through this fragile body.  He is my strength when I am weak!

 

On another note, my back has been getting much better, and over the last weekend and during my stem cell collection, it has gotten a huge step better.  Since then I have gone maybe a whole day at a time without even a twinge of pain.  Less than a month ago I met with my neurologist, took a CAT scan look at my bone, and it was doing well enough to wean myself off of my brace and not have to go for another scan.  The bone is still healing, and the pain is going away as it does.  It really is amazing, I feel great.  Thanks again, for your continued prayers.