A year minus a day. It’s been a year minus a day since I was diagnosed with cancer. I never imagined this marathon would go on so long. But here I am and still very much in this fight. I passed a friend on the street and they were impressed at how well I looked. If only my insides told the same picture. Right now, they don’t. But they will soon. Soon I will be rid of the two persistent cancerous nodes and any remaining cancer cells. I will be cancer free.
Yesterday we started Car T cell therapy. I sat through a 5-hour session of harvesting my cells. It felt a little like the movie Groundhog Day where the scene repeats over and over. The process for harvesting T cells is almost identical to harvesting stem cells.
I arrived at the hospital at 7:30 am and I met my nurse who remained with me throughout the whole procedure. Coincidentally, she happened to be the same nurse who was with me to harvest my stem cells back in January. An expert at finding veins and quickly set to work putting a needle and catheter in each arm. The metal needle and catheter in the vein of my left arm was connected to the machine. My blood flowed out of my left arm and into the machine. The machine used centripetal force to separate the blood. T cells were then sent into a collection bag while the remaining blood was sent back into my body via my right arm.
The only difficult part of the process was to not move. Any movement disrupted the flow of blood and caused the machine to sound the alarm. Within 6 hours they had collected the required number of cells.
I headed home and my lovely little bag of cells was sent on its way to Vancouver. I am enrolled in a medical trial that is focused on producing Canadian-engineered Car-T cells. In Vancouver, the cells will be modified to become special ops forces who are experts in detecting and killing cancer. In two weeks' time, I will get my cells back and they will seek out and destroy any remaining cancer cells.
I’ve got a week off to spend with my family before things get a little bumpy. During the May long weekend, I will get daily injections of chemotherapy. The goal is to knock down my immune system so that it accepts the new cells. The last week of May, I will get my T cells back and that's when the ride is supposed to get even bumpier. I will be in hospital for about a week as there are numerous side effects and my medical team is going to do their best to keep them under control as the T cells set about the task of eradicating my cancer.
The third time’s a charm. Please send all the strength, love, energy, prayers, and courage you can to help us get through this next piece.
Hope you get lots of spoiling this weekend for Mother's Day to see you through the bumps ahead. You certainly deserve it. No surprise such a badass lady needs a badass cancer treatment. The Universe doesn't throw anything at you that you can't handle.