Yesterday the staff at Stanford confirmed that my transplanted stem cells had engrafted into my bone marrow and were starting to produce new blood cells.
The transplant worked.
They unhooked me from the infusion bag I’d been attached to for 11 days (a great thing). Our next appointment at Stanford is Friday, and if everything continues on track, at that time they will release us from having to stay in Menlo Park and take out the Hickman catheter. I’ll be back to my pre-bionic self.
From what I can tell, I came through the transplant process better than 90% of the folks who go through it. 30% to 50% of patients end up having to be hospitalized, and that didn’t happen to me. I never got a fever or an infection. The nurses and PAs always told me I looked great and that my test results/vitals were normal (even though I felt like crap). I’m grateful that none of the really bad things happened.
Still, this was beyond question the hardest, most physically challenging thing I’ve ever been through. It’s impossible to describe how tired, how fatigued, how beaten down I’ve felt. And that’s not done; my physician friend Scott says that I’ll likely feel crummy for another ten days. He’s right if today is any indication. As he says, I was poisoned, and it’s going to take some time for the effects of that to go away.
So I’m making progress but have a way yet to go.
It may be a while before the next update, but know that I’m tracking as I should and will post again when I feel better.
Categories: Blogging