Day 2

Today was better and worse than yesterday. Although the better wasn't that much better and the worse wasn't that much worse, so I can't complain too much. I went to get my injections this morning feeling much more prepared. I actually had to wait a while for them to get to me, and I'm glad I didn't have to do that yesterday. I think it would have just stressed me out.

I had a new nurse helping me today. She was very pleasant, but not nice. Well, that's not fair to say. I guess I just had an exceptional nurse yesterday. They both explained a lot of things to me as they prepared me for my injections. Yesterday, I was told that they heat up the filgrastim, because if not, it has a bit of a kick going in, and I didn't want that. After experiencing it yesterday, I agreed. Also, they inject it very slowly so it doesn't hurt as much. And, like I said yesterday, it wasn't too bad. Actually the worst part of getting the shot itself was how long it took, just because when you breathe or laugh or talk, you can feel the needle because your stomach moves when you do those things. (Or maybe it's just me because of that redundant tissue...) It's hard to hold perfectly still and still make small talk with the nurse. :)

Today the nurse was, as I said, very pleasant, but apparently she didn't heat up the filgrastim, and she injected it fairly quickly...definitely faster than yesterday! The first shot wasn't too bad, similar to yesterday, but I could tell she was doing it more quickly. But the second one hurt, and I knew what the other nurse meant when she referred to it having a "kick." It was nice to have it over quickly, but I think that made it start hurting more quickly that the day before.

Today I was prepared and I took my Tylenol before I got there to try to curb the stomach pain I knew I would have. I believe it helped, but since I knew I wasn't going to die from it, I think I was also a little more mentally prepared for it. I didn't experience any of the anxiety I had yesterday when it started to hurt, and I feel like the pain subsided much more quickly as well.

Both of the nurses, as well as the CMDP director, who came with me yesterday, told me that I would probably start experiencing the bone pain on Day 3. I'm glad it will be the weekend so Jon-Michael will be around if I really start to feel crumby. My nurse today told me that it would start in my long bones, and my flat bones, like my forehead. Apparently flat bones have a lot of marrow. That could explain the headaches, which I had originally chalked up to stress, because I'm not used to having Caleb home all day. (Yea for fall break...mostly!) Actually I'm sure it's a little bit of both.

It's interesting because my fall break was a little different than I originally anticipated. Two weeks ago today my sister Allie had a baby, and 4 days earlier than that, my sister-in-law Danielle had a baby, so we planned to visit both of them during fall break. (It was frustrating to realize I couldn't just up and leave like I could before because of school, but I'm still grateful for Caleb being academically occupied for half of every day!) The plan was to leave last Friday morning and return on the following Wednesday, because my injections started on Thursday. I was really looking forward to meeting two sweet new baby boys and seeing their families. On Friday morning I got up and said my morning prayers, and instantly felt like I shouldn't go to Utah. Long story short, I didn't go. I was very disappointed, but the more I thought about it, the better I felt. I really don't know why I wasn't supposed to go. Maybe it had something to do with me being able to being a donor. That is definitely a worthwhile reason to stay home. Especially because it is literally a matter of life and death.

In the mean time, Tylenol isn't terribly effective on my headaches, but it's the best I can do right now, so I can't wait for the achy bones to start...I'm sure I'll have an even whinier post tomorrow!