Hi,I'm John and have 3 weeks left of my 4th and final cycle of chemo for myeloma. I will then be having a SCT and would appreciate as much advice,information,tips on my upcoming stay in hospital.Im doing best to be positive but dont think I'd be human if I didn't have some worries.Many thanks 
Hi again John J19 and well done navigating over to the group, sorry for the delay in answering your first post but I have been out meeting up with an old friend.
First, what type of Stem Cell Transplant are you having?...... an Autologous (Auto) SCT where your clean Stem Cells are harvested and re-introduced - PDF here....... or an Allogeneic (Allo) SCT where you will get Stem Cells from a matched donor PDF here.
I have had two Allo SCTs with cells from my brother.... it's a long story so hit my Community name and see my story..... Thehighlander
The bottom line is that my SCTs saved my life as my condition had become very aggressive. I am not going to sugarcoat this, at times it was hard but all very do-able.
You may find this link helpful Checklist for SCT Unit as we have collected thoughts about being in the SCT Unit.
For encouragement you can look at this link SCT Success Stories
I don't know if you have been told what conditioning treatment you will have to take down your immune system just before you get your clean Stem Cells? but if the treatment contains the drug Melphalan...... the M in treatments like BEAM, FluMelAlem30..... etc then THIS link will be very helpful with regards to what to expect.
Happy to answer specific questions but my prolif does tell my story and as always you can look at other members stories by hitting their names (where they have completed their profile).
Hi John, less chances of complications with an Auto SCT your body will see ‘your’ Stem Cells as being friendly unlike Stem Cells from a donor for an Allo SCT as the body does it’s best to kill the Stem Cells as they see them as not being friendly…… just like your immune system fighting an infections but on steroids 
The information you get about SCT is massive but this is ‘my’ Simple Guide to an Auto (Autologous) Stem Cell Transplant.
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.
Thankyou Mike, this is very helpful. 
