I am new to this blog but I can tell you that I feel so much better by reading all the Info here my daughter is getting her pic line in on Friday so they can give her the meds to increase her bone marrow before they do stem cell transplant .What can we expect to happen next does this make her sick or weak any info can help me
Hi Loving Parent, This is an awesome place isn't it?! Everyone here is so willing to share their experiences with the hopes of helping someone facing a similar situation. We are all like family here.
My DBF received his Neostar triple lumen cather in his chest approximately a month prior to his transplant. The next day he received Cytoxan and thankfully, did not have any issues. He was sent home and the next day Home Health Care began coming daily monitoring his numbers. His stem cells were collected approximately 2 weeks later. They told him their goal was to collect at least 12 million. Sometimes it takes 2 days to collect them. In his case, they collected 23 million in 1 day. He then had a 2 week break before his stem cell transplant.
I hope this is helpful in giving you a little clearer picture of what to expect. Please realize that everyone is different and different Dr's as well as different facilities do things differently but, I hope that gives you a basic understanding.
Please continue to keep us posted. My thoughts and prayers to you & your daughter.
God Bless,
JerseyGyrl
Thank you so much for the info
Dear Loving Parent
I had my stem cell transplant done on September 26th 2014. The shots they give you to increase the stem cells do not hurt. I was worried about receiving the shots in the stomach. That was not a problem. I received 7 days of shots and the first 5 days, I didn't have any side effects. The last 2 days of shots, I had a lot of bone pain to the point where I had trouble sleeping. Putting Ice packs on the areas that were hurting helped. The Doctor also recommended that I take Claritin daily to help with process which I did. My stem cells were collected on a Monday after the 7 days of shots. My body was an over achiever; they collected 53 million stem cells in 4 hours. It takes 2 million stem cells to do a transplant. The nurses explained to me that it usually takes 2 to 5 days to collect the amount of stem cells the Doctor wants. I guess I was lucky. If you have any other questions, I will be happy to share my experience. Take one day at a time. Prayers sent your way. Juli
Thank you so much for the info I am glad you are doing good now