WhatsUpWithJacob

We were discharged from Valley Medical this afternoon, and on the way home, I got a call from the clinic to say, come in tomorrow at 8:30 for labs. If the magic numbers appear, Jacob could start aphaeresis tomorrow afternoon. It's a painless process where they pump his blood out, centerfuge it to collect the stem cells, and return the rest cyclically until they have enough cells. Keep your fingers crossed. It would be great to get this particular mountain climbed.

He finally got his transfusion around 2 am this morning and it made as huge a difference, as we had hoped. His hematocrit went from 22 to 31 and all of a sudden he could walk around on his own two feet! It took a long time to get the blood, which didn't much matter to Jacob, but reminded me that the blood banks really need us healthy people to donate when we can. Jacob's likely to need many more transfusions in the near future.

If you would like to donate a good place is the Stanford Community Blood Center. They have two locations: near Stanford and El Camino Hospitals. Their web site is: http://bloodcenter.stanford.edu/donate/ or call 650-723-7831 or (toll free) 1-888-723-7831. Let them know that you are giving to the community or general fund in honor of Jacob Harvill (not a directed donation).