I’m 99.99% sure I’m going to go ahead with a stem cell transplant. There just doesn’t seem to be any other chance at a prolonged and drug-free remission. Of course I know that the possibility of no remission at all exists. I believe I would at least get a near complete remission, because I did get a pretty good response with the minimum dose of Thalomid + dex.
This is quite a change from the way I was thinking in January, 2003 and for most of the time thereafter. It’s the dex that did it. I’m near the end of what I can tolerate. It’s just wearing me down.
SCT is a very, very scary thing for me. I don’t like the idea of being in the hospital for 3 weeks and then having to stay in Chapel Hill for another 2 weeks. I don’t like being out of control of my life like that. I’ve never had chemo, let alone a lethal dose of chemo. I have this really unrational fear of vomiting too. It may sound weird, but it’s true. It’s called emetophobia.
I have an appointment with a doctor at UNC’s BMT center to talk about this again and possibly set a date and get my questions answered.
I have been shopping for a center as well for a sct. My husband wants to stay close to home. He is the mm patient. He’s avoided all research and really relies on me for info. I’ve been led to seek an appt. at Arkansas. I’m going to try next week to set it. We are looking close to home as well. I really want to go to the place that has the most experience with mm. It’s an exhausting search. I feel I need to get this right the first time. Whatever the case make sure they harvest enough stem cells for more than one sct. Even if you don’t think you want that now, you leave it for an option later. I’ll look forward to seeing what you decide. I am looking for our sct to take place in Jan. It’s a difficult decision, I’ll have to leave kids in the care of others to be with my husband while I travel, but for me the most important thing is to get to the right treatment first. Thankyou for your site.