Today was my second day of G-CSF injections. So far I am doing good. There is a risk of the MS flaring and although I have not been completely without symptoms, my MS seems to be holding steady. :) Yesterday was a really good day. Even though I did not sleep at all Friday night (gotta love those steroids) I had a decent amount of energy. My appointment for my first set of injections (they are giving me a total of 3 to split up the dose) went well. The nurse did a great job, no pain! After coming back to the PGH we realized there were some more things we needed to get at the store to get ready for the transplant....some extra cleaning supplies and such. I felt well enough that we went to Target and then met up with my friend Joanna and her little girl for lunch. It was nice to be out and about!

Last night was not as uneventful. After my shower when taking the parafilm off of the Hickman (which is used to wrap the ends to prevent water from getting into it and causing problems), we pulled just a little harder than we should have and well...the area where they inserted the Hickman into my chest started to bleed a bit (it takes a while to heal around the cath). We had to call the Adult After Hour Nurse at the UW Hospital but he wasn't too worried about it. My stitches were still in tact and after applying some pressure the bleeding stopped. His recommendation was to have the Nurse I saw today change the dressing and make sure it is okay....and it is! :)

Early this morning came my first symptoms of the G-CSF. I woke up with some bone pain (which is normal with these injections) around 2:30 am. As instructed by my Nurse I took a generic Zofran for nausea and an Oxycodone for the pain. That seemed to do the trick because I was able to go right back to bed and get some sleep! Something I very much needed last night. This morning came a new problem....bleeding. Okay, this just may be too much information for some of you, but I said I would document all this and I am. The bleeding came with any bowel movements I had. It was not a lot but the nurse said it is not surprising because they have me on blood thinners to help ensure I don't get a blood clot. My blood sugars have also been high but with the assistance of some insullin my BS was 88 this morning, which is great! This is NOT surprising at all to me because I tend to have higher BS readings when on steroids.

Today has been pretty quite. My second injection was at 8:30 this morning and then we came home, had some breakfast, watched a little TV and then this afternoon ventured out to the waterfront....it has been a beautiful day here in Seattle. We were not there long as my mom and I really want to limit my time out and about because the last thing we want is for me to be out somewhere and have my MS flare. We are both very hopeful that I won't have too many problems since so far I am doing well, but there is always that risk and with these meds that could be a really bad thing. I have had some more bone pain off and on throughout the evening and in the last hour or so I have developed a headache. It is 8:00 and I'm already in my PJ's and ready for bed. My appointment tomorrow is not until 9 am for blood work and 9:30 for my injection so I plan to stay up just long enough to see Army Wives tonight (I love that show)....then it will be off to bed with a very low key day planned for tomorrow....most likely to include doing a whole lot of NOTHING! :)

I hope all of you had a wonderful weekend and that you are doing well. Take care! I will update again either on Tuesday or if anything new happens before. Until then.....