Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Page 29

In order to harvest stem cells from my body I was given daily shots in my stomach. This would stimulate millions of stem cells to grow. One night after a week of these shots I woke up with the most incredible pain in my back. I doubled over with the pain and only endured the rest of the night by pacing back and forth in the apartment. My body had made so many stem cells they were bulging inside the bone causing incredible pain.

The next morning the doctor gave me a shot of morphine for the pain. I could feel it swoosh through my body. It was a scary feeling, but the pain was gone.

Soon after the doctors harvested my stem cells. I had a double central line. One line took out the blood where a machine separated the stem cells out. The second line sent the remaining blood back to my body. The procedure took only an hour. My thought at the time was wonder and appreciation at this level of medical technology. To them it just seemed an ordinary procedure. To me it was a miracle. Another miracle was the amount of stem cells my body produced. They only needed a few million. My body manufactured fifteen million!!! I had finished the whole stem cell collection sooner than expected so I had a waiting time of two weeks before my stem cell transplant

My daughter, Kali Spark was due to have her second baby THAT very weekend. She was being induced. My heart deeply ached thinking of the possibility of seeing my grandson born. A thought came into my mind that I should telephone the doctor to ask permission to travel to Everett that weekend for the birth. The doctor encouraged me to go, and be back that night for the daily blood draw the next morning. I was exhilarated. I quickly grabbed the phone and commenced calling everyone to share the great news. It was a huge miracle for me. I know I was impressed by the still small voice to call that doctor. I know without a doubt I was being prompted. I know also that the Lord gives us tender mercies at certain times in our lives. A miracle came down from heaven that day.

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