[stu1975]

Re: MattSchtick's Stem Cell Transplant

by stu1975 on Wed Oct 07, 2015 11:27 pm

Hi Andy,

It looks like your ASCT went pretty well,

How are you traveling these days?

Thanks for posting the videos. They give a great snapshot of the ups and downs of the process, I will be having my transplant in January 2016 and will look at doing the same as I'll be at the Gold Coast Hospital as an inpatient. It will be interesting to see if there are any/many variations in treatment.

Good luck and I hope you keep getting stronger by the day!

[MattSchtick]

Re: MattSchtick's Stem Cell Transplant

by MattSchtick on Sat Oct 10, 2015 5:10 am

Thanks Stu, yes it's all going pretty well. I had a great result from the ASCT, with my myeloma markers virtually undetectable. However, my oncologist was always worried by the aggressive nature of my myeloma and the speed at which it could recover, so he put me on 100 mg thalidomide daily straight after the 100 day test. This has subsequently caused my feet and fingers to go pretty numb and I often feel drowsy and light-headed.

It is now 12 months since the 100 day test and my blood numbers are all in the normal range and so far there are no signs of any problems creeping back, so I am very grateful to the maintenance treatment and I consider the side effects as the price I have to pay.

I still have another 6 Zometa transfusions to go and then there will be one less trip to the hospital each month, but I have no bone pain or other skeletal issues.

I don't seem to stop by this website anywhere nearly as often as I used to, so I hope you are all doing well, maybe I'll do another video sometime.

Andy