[LadyLib]

Stem cell transplant - blood counts and trends

by LadyLib on Thu Jan 09, 2014 1:55 am

My husband had his stem cell transplant (SCT) on December 30 (we are at Day 9).

He had to have a transfusion on Day 5 and Platelets on Day 9. I am wondering how long it will take his blood counts to start leveling out. His Red Blood Cell counts seem to be between 9.3 and 9.8 (which is similar to prior to SCT). His WBC went down to nothing, now it appears to be going up slowly in the last 2 days.

Just trying to figure out how we know he is doing well or trending well ...

[Wayne K]

Re: Stem cell transplant - blood counts and trends

by Wayne K on Thu Jan 09, 2014 12:09 pm

I think you'll have to be patient and just watch. I doubt every patient is the same and my experience probably won't help you answer the question. I wasn't discharged until my were back up to an acceptable level and for me that was 18 days, although my numbers had slowed their progress after about 14 or 15 days. I a was an older patient and they hinted that they wanted my numbers a little higher than they normally would have, if i heard them right?

[Eric Hofacket]

Re: Stem cell transplant - blood counts and trends

by Eric Hofacket on Thu Jan 09, 2014 7:29 pm

My counts went down to nothing as well and I was also transfused. I think this is very typical. They would write my daily counts on a white board in my room. They came back slowly then fairly rapidly but hung just below the normal range where they still are to this day because of the Revlimid maintenance drug I am taking. During my SCT I had asked my doctor how others were doing and he said that he had some other patients who counts where a lot less than my and that I was doing pretty well. This is an anxious time, it is hard to be patient and not worry, I know it was for me, but I believe there can be quite a bit of variation in the time for the counts to return in terms of days but eventually for nearly everyone they do return. The success rates of autotransplants is really high.

[goldmine848]

Re: Stem cell transplant - blood counts and trends

by goldmine848 on Fri Jan 10, 2014 11:11 am

Lady,
Your husband is about a month ahead of me: my transplant is scheduled for 1/28. I appreciate your questions and updates since it gives me a real time look at what I may be facing, recognizing that we each move through this differently. Thanks.

[darnold]

Re: Stem cell transplant - blood counts and trends

by darnold on Fri Jan 10, 2014 6:02 pm

Hi LadyLib. I'm glad to hear that your husband is doing well overall.

All of my counts also dropped way down. They come back up; it's different for everyone. As you know from responses to your other posts, some of us got somewhat sick from the chemo, some of us got very sick from the chemo, and some of us did ok. I was in the very sick category for a week, but my counts came back up and then I was fine.

I received a couple of transfusions -- if I remember correctly, I had red cells and platelets while I was still at Hopkins and a red cell transfusion after I came home.

One other thing to note -- your husband is going to be more susceptible to infections because of his low blood counts, both now, and after you come home. It's a pain in the neck but it's part of the journey.