Central Venous Catheter placement

This morning Doug got his Triple Lumen Hickman central venous catheter. This was done at P/SL in the Interventional Radiology department. It is considered a relatively minor surgery and was done using 'conscious sedation', so he was comfortable and will not remember the procedure. For those who want to know more about the mechanics of CVC placement, click on the link to the right.

I took this photo right after Doug got back to the recovery area. He had been dreading it but said it was "a piece of cake". Now he just has to adjust to having the exterior parts hanging out. We got to leave after an hour of 'recovery' -- in Doug's case that meant coffee and graham crackers and bantering with the nurse.

He can take Tylenol for pain as the pain meds wear off.

The CVC will give the doctors and nurses access to give drugs, draw blood, and will be used during the stem cell collection and the reinfusion ("transplant") of stem cells.

Right after we left P/SL, we walked across the street to RMCC clinic so Doug could get his first injection of Neupogen, which is a "colony-stimulating factor".

Patients who are having their stem cells harvested prior to high-dose chemotherapy and autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation receive CSFs prior to stem cell collection. Administration of these growth factors helps "mobilize" their stem cells — that is, move the stem cells from the bone marrow into the blood stream to increase the number of stem cells collected for the transplant.

Now we are in the "Mobilization" phase. Doug will get Neupogen shots daily through Monday. Monday he is scheduled to get the new wonder drug Mozobil and then the actual collection process is supposed to start on Tuesday.

Doug is being a trooper -- especially for someone who used to be afraid of needles! He is napping now so I am thinking about going across the street to Target for a bit of shopping.