Transplant Is A Go

We are just back from a trip to the hospital for blood tests and a visit with Dr. Kamdar. She reports that my blood tests look good, my bone marrow biopsy came out clean and my PET scan indicated I had about a total of about an 85% reduction in tumor size as a result of my four cycles of chemo. Pretty much all that is left is in my upper abdomen. And because of of all of these and signing a consent form, I am a go for the stem cell transplant. Whoopee.

We visited the bone marrow transplant area of the hospital today. It was pretty utilitarian looking. We were hoping for something a bit homier and more comfortable looking. What we have is a big room with pretty big windows, a typical hospital bed, a side table, a sleeper sofa, and a recliner. None of them look very appealing. The unit does have a couple of stationary bicycles and a treadmill for exercise. I can walk around the unit but not go outside into other areas of the hospital. I will be attached to a rolling IV stand most of the time I am there. Goody goody! Everywhere I go, I will be pushing an IV - shit, shower, and shave with an IV plugged into my trifusion line. Can you tell I am thrilled with this? About three weeks in this room.

I am resigned to this and just want to get it over. I am certainly nervous but I have to do it. I am feeling pretty darn good right now and am confident that I can deal with this procedure. The days of chemo and the chemo they will pump into me are intense but is only for six days. Then we are done.  Of course the chemo will kill any remaining cancer cells plus all of my stem cells and bone marrow and who knows what else. But, I only get it for six days. Then I get my stem cells back and they will do transfusions to help deal with the neutropenia. Then about twelve more days in that hospital room.

The best news I got from Dr. Kamdar was that the trifusion line would likely come out around day 30. I was concerned I would be dealing with it for three to six months. 

Update May 3 - on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we will be driving to UCHealth in Aurora for Neupogen injections to stimulate white blood cell growth. If I were not getting these in hospital, I would have paid between $3,500 and $5,000 out of pocket to self administer. Driving 100 miles round trip and paying about $11.80 in tolls is cheap.