My 64 year old husband was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in April 2021. This was picked up via a blood test he had had following COVID in December 2020. He had had no symptoms pertaining to MM and fortunately it was caught early. It was obviously a complete shock to both of us as he was and still is really super fit. He played badminton twice a week and went to the gym four times a week. He has ended his membership at the gym, but occasionally plays badminton whenever he can.
He has gone through 7 cycles of treatment, VTD, and had his stem cells harvested last week. Unfortunately, only enough was collected for one transplant. I’m hoping that’s all he will need. We are now waiting for a date for his transplant. We know it will be in January sometime. Any advice, guidance, words of comfort all gratefully received as I’m extremely nervous for him but keeping strong for him and both my grown up daughters.
Thank you.
Hi again KCOO and welcome across to this corner of the Mac Community. You and your husband have been having a bumpy journey but the pathway he is on can take this in a positive direction and outcome.
You can hit my community name (and other members) for my story but I have had 2 Allo (donor) SCTs (June 2014 then Oct 2015) and these saved my life. It was not a walk in the park but it was all do-able and actually got me into my first long term remission (Sep 2016) for the first time in over 17 years.
Always around to answer questions.
This is my Simple Guide to an Auto (Autologous) Stem Cell Transplant........ (obviously your husband has done the first part)
For an Auto SCT the patient will have to be in a window of remission so that their Stem Cells can be harvested this often requires what is often called salvage treatment.... basically some chemo that can often be strong but is designed to achieve the goal.
The patient will most likely have a week of injections to make the bone marrow work overtime to produce lots of Stem Cells.
To harvest the Stem Cells a line is put 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 by the bonemarrow 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 stem cells over a 4-5 hours process. The harvest is on the whole painless and once harvested the Stem Cells are frozen.
Leading up to the actual SCT the patient will have to have treatments to get to a stage where the SCT can proceed.
So 7ish days leading up to the SCT day he/she will have to go through what is called Conditioning, its a method of taking down the bodies Immune System completely.
This is normally done again using some very strong chemotherapy and for some like myself, Radiotherapy..... but I had an Allo SCT.
Once the Immune System is taken down they give the harvested Stem Cells back just like getting a blood transfusion through a Central Line.
The Stem Cells then go to the Job Centre in the Bonemarrow 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 to grow as the body starts to reboot the Immune System and over time the blood counts come back up.
Its all very cleaver, very science fiction but all very do-able.
Each SCT Unit will do their own thing but for an Auto SCT the conditioning can be done as an out-patient then when the patient is get close to get their cells back this is done in a dedicated SCT unit.
Its a very clean environment (Ward) in a hospital, the patient may even get their own on-suite room. The time in the unit will be different for everyone but expect at least a few weeks - but the medical team will keep the patient well informed.
Remember the patient does not 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 new immune system kicks back in. The patient will be an in-patient for some of the time but this all depends on how fast the ’New You’ starts to grow. The average is about 4-6 weeks in the unit but can be quicker.
Once the patient gets discharged they do need to be very carful during the weeks following the SCT as the new Immune System is still growing so care with coming in contact with infectious environments but their team will give lots of guidelines.
Expect weekly appointments for bloods etc as they will want to keep a close eye on the patient.
I would also say that the fatigue following a SCT is much higher than going through regular chemo but that could just be me, going off food and some mouth issues do come along but these SCT teams will help as they have seen it all before.
You will have lots of questions so you will find me and others able to help out with anything SCT related.
This is an ongoing threads covering being in a SCT Unit Checklist for SCT Unit
Once you know the name of the Conditioning come back as we can help with that one as well.
I always say that you can’t do anything to control the actual medical treatments but you can make a difference to how you get through your journey, but we can help you get though this.
Understanding stem cell transplants using your own cells (autologous)
