Autologous Stem Cell Transplant - An Outpatient's Tale

“They’re 36 minutes out!” My stem cells would arrive at my hospital bedside in 36 minutes. The precision and timing with which the stem cell transplant process runs was impressive.

The two bags of my stem cells arrived in a large canister surrounded by liquid nitrogen. Then each bag was thawed out in a water tub. Bag one of two was quickly on its way into my arm.

10 minutes in and my throat started to itch. This is a fairly standard symptom with a stem cell infusion. Thankfully the nursing staff have a bag of Werther’s candy on hand to deal with this. LOL! It worked like a charm.

20 minutes in and bag one was done. Now to thaw out the second bag.

My nurse was ever present and took my blood pressure and temperature every seven minutes or so.

And just like that, within an hour, I had my 5.26 million stem cells back into my body.

Now for the hard work to begin. My stem cells will make their way back to my bone marrow and in about 5 days' time I will be at an all-time low as the process of engraftment begins. Until then, my remaining white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets will be diminishing. I’m expected to be more tired and need a lot more rest than I have over the past week of chemotherapy.

I’ve been warned that everyone is different. I may continue to experience some of the nastier side effects caused by 6 consecutive days of chemotherapy. Only time will tell. I will continue to have daily appointments at the hospital until engraftment occurs and my body starts to recover.

Stem cell transplant patients consider the day they get their cells back as a momentous one. It’s akin to having a re-birthday. After engraftment, my stem cells will start making white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. I will have baby blood. In about 2 weeks, I should be feeling a little more human and back to my old self. In six months, I will get all my baby vaccines again and I will start the process of building a healthy immune system.

Till then, Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy…