Beth Morgan Multiple Myeloma Treatment Blog
My life as a myeloma patient for almost two decades
Myeloma
Things aren’t as terrible as I’ve been imagining all these years. That’s not to say that I think it would have been better for me to have the SCT up front. There’s no way I can know how my awful anxiety would have affected the transplant processs.
I have a bit of mucositis and thrush. Nothing painful. Just annoying.
This was day+6. My counts were as follows:
HGB: 11.4
WBC: 1.3
PLT: 50
I also tried my my hand at a podcast, just to see how that goes. Most days I don’t really feel like typing. I make too many typos, and I get bored with it too easily. I can’t remember when was the last time I felt so bored and just wanted to sleep, like I do now.
It’s day +5. My WBC is now 1.7. Not much happened today. I got some fluids. My blood pressure was pretty low.
Amy asked how the re-infusion went. I hated that part. She mentioned that was a prime opportunity for nausea to creep in. I had some Zofran, Ativan and some oxycodone in my IV. If you even anticipate needing these things, make sure you get them. Also, ask for a slow infusion. There’s less discomfort that way.
This is my first day of simply recovering, after having had stem cells infused for 2 days. I felt pretty queasy this morning, so I spent a while in the clinic with some IV Zofran and Ativan. I’m not sure what caused this to happen, since I felt fine on the way to the clinic. I kind of just wish I could stay home now. I think schlepping into the clinic causes problems. There’s nothing that can be done about that though.
I had a good laugh, which really did help me to feel better for a bit. Now I think I’ll rest for a while. Then I have to make myself exercise! They say it can help.
Even though I’m still having more stem cells infused today, it’s still called day +1. Yesterday was uncomfortable. I believe it was a reaction to the preservative, DMSO. I felt a great deal of pressure and discomfort in my chest while the stem cells were being infused. Luckily, there are fewer to do today.
I’m keeping up on the ativan and compazine to try to avoid any nausea. So far, I’ve felt a little queasy, but nothing major. I’ve been told that after day 5, I should be past that.
My iPod broke last night, so Todd went and got another one for me. I have some things to transfer over.
I just saw Dr. Long, who is a great doctor. I highly recommend him if you’re in the market for a stem cell transplant.
This is day 0, the day on which I’ll receive some of my stem cells. I’ll get more tomorrow, too.
They’re getting ready to do it soon, it appears.
Something I had (maybe chemo?) gave me terrible indigestion last night and this morning. I also had a bad headache. I didn’t sleep very well, so I hope to catch a nap while I’m here.
This is a picture of one of the syringes filled with my stem cells. I had such an unpleasant experience with the re-infusion that I hate to even look at this!
There’s no turning back now. I had my high dose melphalan today. If they just sent me home right now, I’d probably die from an infection in a matter of days. The chemo is myeloablative. It kills the bone marrow. My stem cells will be infused over the next 2 days. I don’t fully understand why it’s going to take 2 days, but I’ll find out tomorrow. I’ll have my own special room at the clinic while this is being done. It should be more comfortable than sitting out in the open in a chair. It’s very quiet here, and I’m sensing an opportunity to take nap.
We got the apartment and are settled in, sort of. Everything’s not put away yet, but soon will be. We were thinking out loud about how great a place this would be to live, IF we were 25 years old. Nothing’s better than home. This is a 2 BR/2BA apartment with a kitchen, living room, dining room and washer & dryer. I think this is going to be much better than doing the SCT inpatient.