Transplant

I haven't posted in a while so I thought I would post and let you all know how my stem cell transplant went!

So, I finally achieved partial remission which means the tumour had shrunk enough for transplant ready for the chemo and my healthy cells to make me cancer free completely! As I was only in partial remission rather than complete remission the chances of success are 30-50% (but they said the last chemo was only 20% and that worked!)

I had an autologous transplant which means I had my own stem cells put transplanted back into my body. This is done by putting my healthy cells back in as an infusion through the central or hickman line. Firstly though you have 6 days of gruelling chemotherapy, a higher dose than I had ever had before. This chemo is called BEAM.

In transplant world, the days are worked out with day 0 being transplant day (my re birth as we call it), so I was admitted on day -7 ready for chemo to start the next day.

I don't remember too much about the first week of chemo as I was so anxious before hand I was given so many anti anxiety meds it knocked me out! Luckily for me even though I had been admitted, I was allowed to leave the ward and even pop home for a few hours for a couple of days until my blood count dropped and I needed to be in isolation.

Most people loose a lot of weight during transplant because of horrible side effects of the chemo, because of this I was given a nasal feeding tube - the worst thing I have ever ever had! This was inserted the morning of transplant so I spent most of the day gagging and being sick!

Again I don't remember much about transplant day other than the most strong sell of corn on the cob ever, I stank of it for days! Put off for life now.

The days following were basically spent asleep and not doing a lot, I felt fine though until around day +9 where my counts dropped to 0. I had some blood and platelet transfusions and was in isolation however I had nutropenic sepsis, an extremely high temperature and a heart rate of 188. I felt like I was dying. Getting out of bed was a no go and being awake for more than a few hours was impossible! I lost my hair for the 3rd time and had oxygen tubes, feeding tubes, syringe drivers and my other lines coming out of me. It was not a pretty sight!

However day +14 came and my bloods had started to come up my temperature had gone and the doctors were keen for me to go home. This was scary for all of us! Excited but terrified! The next day I was set to go home (after Jack and Cameron spent about 2 hours clearing the room out!). I was so happy to be home and recovering in my own space.

For the first week I wasn't really able to do anything, walking up and down stairs was torture and I spent all my time on the sofa with my poor mum and Jack running around after me. As the weeks when on I improved very quickly along with my blood count.

I am now thriving, still feeling tired and my legs aren't what they used to be but I'm alive and well!!

My scan will be in the next 2 weeks and we will find out if transplant was successful.