Bone marrow transplant

[Joyce Armes]

Has anyone had a successful bone marrow or stem cell transplant? The Dr has advised my husband to have a transplant. I have personally known three people with transplants that have failed. One was a Physician were I was employed, one was Physician my husband went when he was first diagnosed with MDS and the physicians twin brother was the match. His body rejected it. Also my husband has developed a warm D antibody due to so any transfusions. I questioned his new Oncologist if this would make it more difficult to find a donor ( my husband does not have siblings that could be considered) his answer was that he wasn’t sure. Does anyone know if this antibody would make a match more complicated. Any information or experience you or your loved one has had would be greatly appreciated. God Bless You!

[Sharon Austermuehle]

I am 60 years old and I had a stem cell transplant on 3/25/2015. I am at day 177. My donor was anonymous, but a 10/10 match. I spent a month in the hospital, had some rough times. Had all my chemo done the first week I was in the hospital. Then subsequent chemo treatments after transplant which ended before I left hospital, so no chemo now. The roughest week was when they gave me ATG which is made from rabbit antibodies. Rabbit antibodies can improve the survival and relapse outcomes of leukemia and myelodysplasia patients receiving a stem cell transplant from an unrelated donor. Got fever and chills but made it through. The next thing was the mouth sores from the chemo. Had a hard time swallowing or eating but the sores went away. The next few months were hard for me. I wasn’t eating, did a lot of vomiting (graft vs host). So I lost way too much weight. Also on a side note my skin turned black. It’s all part of graft vs host. All my skin and I mean all my skin, hands, feet, arms legs, ears, face peeled off and I have new skin. I also have new nails growing on my fingers and toes. I was seeing my doctor once a week. In July had a minor setback. My liver counts were up, so I ended up back in the hospital. They did a liver biopsy but it was just graft vs host. Was on steroids after I got out and my liver counts are back to normal. In fact all my counts are in normal range. Visits to the doctor have decreased too. Getting stronger everyday. It’s important that your doctors monitor your counts and medication. Tell your doctor everything even if you think it’s minor. My doctors and nurses at the University of Illinois Medical Center are outstanding. Contact the Leukemia foundation or the American Cancer Society they can send you information or just talk. They are great, even helped me with insurance questions and financial assistance. For me the transplant was the right course of treatment. Everything is going in a positive direction. Stay strong.

[Beth Pilot]

I celebrated my 1 year birthday from transplant (non related, 10/10 match donor), on Oct. 29, 2015. I’m dealing with some liver enzyme issues due to GVHD but I have not felt this good since I first started “losing my hemoglobin” in Sept. 2013. It’s been a journey that has sometimes been a little difficult but as Sharon said above, just tell your medical team everything that’s going on and they will fix it. This has been the right decision for me. Thank God for donors.

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