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Can anyone tell me what to expect during an auto transplant?
I have my big appointment in the morning with my transplant physician to discuss whether I will do or if I am ready to do the auto . I want to make sure I ask all of the right questions about what to expect. Can anyone tell me what they experienced?
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Music meme - Who do you know with myeloma?: Self
- When were you/they diagnosed?: Feb 2010
- Age at diagnosis: 53
Re: What to expect during an auto transplant
Hi Music meme,
Good luck with your appointment tomorrow!
Hopefully a number of Beacon readers will share in this thread their experiences with autologous stem cell transplants. Do you have any specific questions about the stem cell transplant process?
Here are a number of previous forum discussions about stem cell transplants. Hopefully you will also find lots of helpful information in some of these discussions:
https://myelomabeacon.org/forum/search.php?keywords=transplant+sct&terms=any&author=&sc=1&sf=titleonly&sr=topics&sk=t&sd=d&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search
Good luck with your appointment tomorrow!
Hopefully a number of Beacon readers will share in this thread their experiences with autologous stem cell transplants. Do you have any specific questions about the stem cell transplant process?
Here are a number of previous forum discussions about stem cell transplants. Hopefully you will also find lots of helpful information in some of these discussions:
https://myelomabeacon.org/forum/search.php?keywords=transplant+sct&terms=any&author=&sc=1&sf=titleonly&sr=topics&sk=t&sd=d&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search
Re: Can anyone tell me what to expect during an auto transpl
I had my ASCT as an inpatient in late December 2011 immediately after induction RVD.
My choice in having one up-front was determined by the protocol of the clinical trial I'm in, but I would have done it up-front anyway because I have high-risk myeloma due to two chromosome deletions. Those who aren't high risk may feel more at liberty to wait.
I was very lucky and tolerated the SCT well--I was prepared for the worst, but it didn't happen.
My experience is not typical and I relate my account with humility having observed and talked with other cancer patients on the floor who were clearly facing far greater challenges than I was--and humility knowing how much more difficult the SCT process was years ago, and what people went through back then.
After the high dose melphalan my first day, I felt queasy for about 5 days, but I was able to eat (though not with any pleasure). My digestion was, let us say dysfunctional, but tolerable. I didn't get sick and didn't feel much weakness or fatigue, and walked a mile or two every day around the floor. Between ice chips and kepivance I didn't get any mouth sores, though the kepivance gave me a rash that was treatable with some cream. I was released after 11 days--again, that's not normal, but with my numbers rebounding (with help from Neupogen) they had no reason to keep me at that point.
To pass the time I spent a lot of time on the internet researching vacations. You can kill hours and hours doing that--planning imaginary, wildly expensive vacations you may never take to all parts of the world, researching the most expensive hotels, using wikipedia to learn about cultural and historical sightseeing, etc. etc. That's probably as much fun as you can have in a hospital room.
I would ask the doctor if they administer kepivance to prevent mouth sores. Not all of them do. Kepivance has side effects, but I'll take it over the mouth sores.
Also, find out if they administer chemotherapy for your stem cell harvesting. I think some hospitals do and some don't, and I don't know which is better. I had Cytoxan, and I didn't really understand until shortly before it was administered that it would result in hair-loss *before* my SCT.
Right now I feel 100% and I'm glad I had my stem cell transplant up-front, given my personal situation. I wish you all the best.
My choice in having one up-front was determined by the protocol of the clinical trial I'm in, but I would have done it up-front anyway because I have high-risk myeloma due to two chromosome deletions. Those who aren't high risk may feel more at liberty to wait.
I was very lucky and tolerated the SCT well--I was prepared for the worst, but it didn't happen.
My experience is not typical and I relate my account with humility having observed and talked with other cancer patients on the floor who were clearly facing far greater challenges than I was--and humility knowing how much more difficult the SCT process was years ago, and what people went through back then.
After the high dose melphalan my first day, I felt queasy for about 5 days, but I was able to eat (though not with any pleasure). My digestion was, let us say dysfunctional, but tolerable. I didn't get sick and didn't feel much weakness or fatigue, and walked a mile or two every day around the floor. Between ice chips and kepivance I didn't get any mouth sores, though the kepivance gave me a rash that was treatable with some cream. I was released after 11 days--again, that's not normal, but with my numbers rebounding (with help from Neupogen) they had no reason to keep me at that point.
To pass the time I spent a lot of time on the internet researching vacations. You can kill hours and hours doing that--planning imaginary, wildly expensive vacations you may never take to all parts of the world, researching the most expensive hotels, using wikipedia to learn about cultural and historical sightseeing, etc. etc. That's probably as much fun as you can have in a hospital room.
I would ask the doctor if they administer kepivance to prevent mouth sores. Not all of them do. Kepivance has side effects, but I'll take it over the mouth sores.
Also, find out if they administer chemotherapy for your stem cell harvesting. I think some hospitals do and some don't, and I don't know which is better. I had Cytoxan, and I didn't really understand until shortly before it was administered that it would result in hair-loss *before* my SCT.
Right now I feel 100% and I'm glad I had my stem cell transplant up-front, given my personal situation. I wish you all the best.
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pgsatl - Name: Paul
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Myself
- When were you/they diagnosed?: 2006
- Age at diagnosis: 38
Re: Can anyone tell me what to expect during an auto transpl
Hi Pgsati
"but I would have done it up-front anyway because I have high-risk myeloma due to two chromosome deletions. Those who aren't high risk may feel more at liberty to wait."
Unfortunately, the data shows the opposite.
"Remarkably, patients with two or more aberrations had significantly shorter overall survival (p=0.001), time to progression (p=0.036) and progression free survival (p=0.008). Our results show a high incidence of chromosomal abnormalities in multiple myeloma patients and confirm the prognostic impact of selected chromosomal aberrations as well as cumulative effect "
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20099973
"but I would have done it up-front anyway because I have high-risk myeloma due to two chromosome deletions. Those who aren't high risk may feel more at liberty to wait."
Unfortunately, the data shows the opposite.
"Remarkably, patients with two or more aberrations had significantly shorter overall survival (p=0.001), time to progression (p=0.036) and progression free survival (p=0.008). Our results show a high incidence of chromosomal abnormalities in multiple myeloma patients and confirm the prognostic impact of selected chromosomal aberrations as well as cumulative effect "
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20099973
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suzierose - Name: suzierose
- When were you/they diagnosed?: 2 sept 2011
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