Elise started the first of five days of subcutaneous injections of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (GCSF) or "Filgrastim". There are 2x 1ml injections and these must be done around 6am each morning. We've got a few things going for us: 1) she got to stop the Kineret injections while she gets the GCSF; 2) the GCSF serum doesn't burn after injection like the Kineret (yeah!); and 3) this morning she got up to go to the bathroom on her own around 6am so I didn't have to face a grumpy child with a syringe. Much to my surprise, Elise went back to sleep after the injections. Guess it's just not that much drama for her anymore.
According to the documentation, GCSF is a "haematopoetic growth factor". It stimulates the bone marrow to produce more white blood cells and stem cells, and they collect these during the apheresis procedure.
I'm waiting for the potential side effects of GCSF to kick in: bone pain; itchy skin near injection sites; fever, chill and fluid retention; and the multi-purpose side effect: nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
We get to do these injections until she has the apheresis this coming Thursday. We'll travel out on Tues to NIH, check into the hospital that evening, have tests on Wed, then on Thu she'll have a venous catheter placed and they'll do the apheresis. If all goes well then they'll remove the catheter and we'll fly home on Fri.
We're going into/out of Dullas airport this time so maybe we'll swing over to the Udvar-Hazy Smithsonian for a couple hours on Friday since our flight isn't until 5:30pm. They say she'll likely be fatigued from the apheresis so she may not be up for this though.
This getting up at the crack of dawn has its upside: I went for a hike in the foothills around our house and got to see a beautiful sunrise.
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