Stem Cell Breakdown....and an update just for you Nana!!

Alright we got the rundown from the Stem Cell Transplant(SCT from here on out) doctor. His name is Dr. Nieto. Then we went to a class and things got a little confusing, but here is the breakdown as I understand it so far.
We had scans today to see if further Radiaton (XRT) is needed. If not, Jason's last day will be this Friday. If he does his last day will be the 23rd. I suppose we will know by Friday. If the XRT is not doing its job or needs a little help, Jason will undergo some chemo before the SCT that is not related to the SCT itself. Now if no further treatement of any kind (no XRT or chemo) in about two weeks to a month we will start the SCT process.
The reason Jason is having to do the Tandem High Dose Chemo with Stem Cell transplant is that Jason's Testicular Cancer is what is called Refractory. Meaning it did not respond completely to standard chemo or radiation. So we go to High Dose chemo which is much stronger. When people undergo regular chemo their counts drop but do recover in about 14 to 21 days. With High Dose Chemo if they did not give stem cells back to the patient their immune systems would never recover. So they technically call stem cell rescue.
Alright the SCT process. Jason will undergo 5 days of Chemo inpatient called TIP (Taxol, Infosimide, Cisplatin). The purpose of this chemo is called Purging and Mobilization. The purging part is to rid the blood stream and Jason's body of any random floating cancer cells. The mobilization will cause the stem cells to move out of the bone marrow(located in your hips) to the blood stream. So what is a stem cell you say? A stem cell is the "parent" cell of blood products. Meaning this stem cell turns into White blood cells (infection control), Platelets(blood clotting), and Red blood Cells (carry oxygen around the body). Once there are enough stem cells in his blood stream (determined by a blood test) they will then proceed to the collection process.
Jason will have a Central Venous Catheter (CVC) put in under his collar bone and his PICC Line(from his arm)removed. They will hook him up to an apheresis machine. This machine will take the blood from him , spin it causing the parts of blood to separate. Collect the stem cells and put everything else back into him. They want at a minimum 10million cells. He will probably collect 2 days. I believe the collection will be outpatient, but Im not sure. After this he will be admitted to the SCT floor (theoretically). They will then do round one of his High Dose Chemo(HDC). There are 4 drugs in this first round, Gemcitibine, Taxotere, Melphalan, Carboplatin. He will get these over 5 days. They will try to control all of the side effects but we know for certain that he will get mouth and throat sores. About 2-3 days he probably wont eat or drink but they said they will control the pain. After the 5th day they will give him 2-3 rest and the they will do the SCT rescue. This constitues DAY0(they said to think of this day as his new "birth day"). Its very anticlamtic though because basically its like a drug transfusion. Jason's blood counts will plummet to nothing, they will give blood and platelet transfusions as needed. About days 10-14 they should start trendin upward. The goal is to have high enough blood counts he will be released day 21-30 post transplant. He will go home on antibiotics. He has a restricted diet as well as restricted visitors. Jason will have to go to the doctor quite often. We have about a months rest and then we go back in for round 2 of HDC.
The good thing is they will have collected enough Stem cells the first go round that we dont have to do that again . He will have 5 days of HDC this time Infosfimide, Carboplatin, and Etoposide. Then the same thing as before. Counts drop, wait for them to return, and then get discharged.
About 3 months after the second rescue Jason will have to be reimmunized with all his childhood vaccines since they will have been wiped out. I found this interesting. SO in total Jason will pobably be in the Hospital around 60 days out fo 90. He can leave his room, but he cant leave the floor to my knowledge. No fresh fruit, vegetables, or flowers. Everything has to be cooked thouroughly. And my favorite, someone has to be with him 24/7 for 30 days after he is release from each transplant.
So there you go. I think I got it all. Its a ton of information. We are getting rolling on some of the benefits stuff, so keep an eye out for it. I will let you all know if there is anything you guys can do. Jason is doing okay as he can be. He is very determined which is awesome! Ronan is great, he knows something is up and is very attached to Daddy right now. I am muddling through the best that I can. Thanks for your encouragement.Prayers needed. Kimmy