Lesson on blood

So as things progress with Mom and I think more about how this whole process works I have questions. Luckily we have a wonderful childhood friend of Kam's who is an oncology nurse at Providence in Ptld who is willing to answer my questions(even at 11 at night)...so here is my latest realization and question...

Mom has been receiving blood on a pretty regular basis. I hadn't thought about it, but she RECEIVES the blood but none is being removed...so how does that work and why do they do it? The obvious answer is she needs more healthy blood but where has the "bad" blood gone?

The more accurate answer is that even in healthy people blood dies pretty quickly and needs to be replaced. It is continuously made by the body to remain healthy. In Mom's case, her body was making blood but it was not developing fully and instead was creating immature cells(called leukemia cells). Prior to the chemo, her body could not create enough healthy cells, the leukemia cells were taking over which is what is making her sick. The chemo treatments kills ALL blood cells, both good and bad and her body cannot keep up with the creation of new blood. So she NEEDS blood infusions; the dead bad blood and now the new dead good blood is expelled the same way a healthy person removes dead blood (the way all things are expelled).

So there we go...I had all the pieces to this puzzle but wasn't able to put it all together to make sense until now. Thanks Nicole!