For the last couple of days Romy has been undergoing Stem Cell Harvesting. Each day a lady called Ash has arrived in the morning and set up a large machine next to Romy’s bed, primed the machine and attached Romy to the machine through her vascath tubes. Ash would then monitor the machine for approximately 4 hours whilst her blood passes through the machine and Stem Cells are collected. The first two days of harvesting were fairly successful, with a decent amount of Stem Cells collected. We were all set and ready for the third day of harvesting today which was due to collect the final small quantity of stem cells required, however we were gutted to find out that after Romy’s bloods were tested it was shown that her levels were too low and attempting to obtain Stem Cells would be pointless. This means that at some point in the future Romy will have to undergo all of this again, including the operation to insert a vascath. These Stem Cells are required when Romy is put through the harsher treatment in the coming months, so it is essential that an adequate amount is obtained, her body would not recover without the stem cell rescue.
-Helen
