Hello everyone, My husband was diagnosed at aged 59 last October with (AITL ) Non Hodgkins lymphoma. He underwent 4 rounds of CHOP and 2 rounds of ICE and then a Autologous Stem Cell transplant on 12th April. He is now day +77. For the last 11 days he has been back in hospital following temperature spikes (usually once or twice a day. He has had multiple blood transfusions and platelet transfusions and blood tests/cultures to try and find either a bacterial infection or viral infect. All the IV antibiotics they gave him has done nothing to stop the temperature spikes, and no conclusive reason has been made. He had a CT scan and this showed some raised lymph so to be cautious the consultant did a biopsy on a lymph under the arm. We wait the results and have a PET scan next Monday to rule out anything abnormal. My husband is very low and has no energy due to being anaemic and the levels keep dropping. Just wondering if anyone else had experienced complications like this following their SCT? Keeping our fingers crossed . Thanks
Hi Tuliplover, sorry to hear about the challenges you husband is having. Post SCT (Auto and Allo) infections are unfortunately normal and on average folks are back in hospital on IV antibiotics at least 2 times during the first year post SCT.
I did ok after my first Allo SCT but after my second Allo I was back in 30+ days over 4 occasions during the 18 months post Allo with Chest Infections, Lung Fungal Infections, the RSV Virus, Pneumonia x2, Neutropenic Sepsis x2……. and a number of ‘unknown’ infections.
I am allergic to Penicillin so it’s just that bit harder to get the best antibiotics to do the job.
My SCT Consultant did warn me to expect infections “Infections are rather normal Mike as your bone marrow is going to fight back after us playing with it!!”
It’s hard work and I totally understand how he is felling. But he is in the best place and let’s look for things to improve quickly.
I have talked with many people over the past 6 years 8 months following my second Allo SCT (hit my name for my story) and the difference is the post treatment journey is massive. But these problems are just one part of the SCT rollercoaster…… but eventually the ride slows down and some semblance of normality returns ((hugs))
