After having unsuccessful R-CVP AND R-CHOP chemotherapy for my non Hodgkin Lymphoma i have started on an intense regiment called E-SHAP part of my treatment will be having stem cells harvested and given back to me along with a large dose of chemotherapy. having spoke to doctors and the Apheresis unit i understand the theory of whats coming but i would appreciate some knowledge from someone who has had a stem cell transplant, thanks in advance
Hi Brian and welcome to the Online Community.
I see that you have joined the Stem Cell Transplant Forum. This is the best place to post up so go to the SCT the group. Hit the 'Start a Discussion' tab and introduce yourself to the group - you could just copy an paste what you put in this first post.
Remember to go to the right on the group home page and select how you want to receive email notifications when someone answers your posts.
I am Mike Thehighlander and I have been through SCTs with cells from my brother so totally get the journey - I will keep my eyes open for you in SCT Central
community.macmillan.org.uk/.../
Edit: Ignore what I said above as your post was in the SCT Forum 
Hi again I was away from home so did not have a good connection.
It would be worth having a look at some of our profiles to get a taste of our journeys.
Have you been told any info about your conditioning?
An Autologous SCT (Auto) involves getting the patient into a condition that no cancer is evident this is normally done by using very strong chemo then the Stem Cells will be harvested.
This is done by putting a line into the arm. Its sort of like giving blood - the blood runs into a very clever machine that brrrrs the blood round and picks out what are called undifferentiated cells (these Stem Cells have not been given a job so this is before they turn into Red or White blood cells etc) and the blood returns through the line back into the blood stream. The machine can pick out millions of cells over a 4-5 hours process. The harvest is on the whole painless, just a lot of sitting.
The Stem Cells are stored until it's time to use them. The method is called cryopreservation: it freezes stem cells at temperatures below -150oC, by immersing them in nitrogen vapour. When required, they are defrosted in a water bath and are put back into the body through a central line.
An Auto also requires what we call Conditioning to happen. This is done to take down the immune system completely. This is usually done using some more Chemo - but its only for a few days. Once the Immune System is taken down they give the harvested Stem Cells back just like getting a blood transfusion.
The Stem Cells then go to the job centre in the Bone Marrow and ask for a job. This is the point where they become differentiated cells like Red and White blood cells and the all ’New You” starts as the body start to reboot the immune system and over time the counts come back up:)
Its all very cleaver, very science fiction but very do-able
Due to the very specialised nature of a SCT it has to be done in a dedicated SCT unit. It a very clean environment (Ward) in a hospital, you get your own on-suite room and yes you do get visitors (some people think they have to live in a bubble) as long as every one is healthy its no problem but some units will have rules about little children.
Remember you don’t have an immune system to fight bugs during this time so safety first, but SCT teams are very good at keeping everything under control until your new immune system kicks back in. You will be an inpatient for some of the time but this all depends on how fast the ’New You’ starts to grow.
SCTites travel very different journeys even if they do have the same treatment plans.
