Tag Archives: Stem cell transplant

Snow, Snow, and more snow! And a Re-birthday.

Posted in Bone marrow transplant, California, cancer, cooking, Multiple myeloma, Myeloma, Uncategorized by

Well, as they say,” the best laid plans of mice and men”. Totally snowed out yesterday. I -80 closed the next exit above us. It still is closed this morning. I went in for my labs and the computers were all down and not working. There were 8 people waiting for them to come online. I just said I’d reschedule. So at that point, it was just cloudy and I headed down to the gym. By the time I left, it was raining and VERY windy. Even the Santa Fe , which is a heavy car, was getting buffeted around. By the time I was home, it was snowing and then really snowing. My daughter opted to work from home. Today she’s going in to the college and it looks mostly like rain.

So, no swimming for me again. This is getting kind of old. But there’s not much I can do except NOT be out there with all the ‘stupid people’ trying to get either to the snow or somewhere. CHP was on facebook saying ‘do not try the back roads as they are just as bad as the freeway’, which is closed. So, I’ll go down to the market and get some lettuce and salad stuff since we don’t have any. I plan to make some soup for dinner.

I’m reviewing what I want to do food pantry wise this summer. I know I don’t need any more jams or marmalades. I might do some strawberry if the berries look good. We’ve been using the salsas so I will do that again. the chicken broth has been great to have pressure canned but I could freeze that too. I would like to do more flash frozen corn and maybe some other veggies too. I’m planning on starting a pantry book for just this kind of thing. I must have tossed the one I was working on thinking it was a different book. I think that was the book I started during the pandemic for price points like at Costco etc. That’s okay, most of it I can recall.

My 17th re-birthday!

My wonderful family.

So, 17 years ago, I was admitted into the Sutter General Hospital, BMT unit. This day is called -1, because you are given the high dose Melphalan. Then it’s the next day is day 0 when the actual Stem Cells are given. It’s actually very anti-climatic as it is a bag hung up and then just on the IV drip and it’s over. Then it’s just a waiting game. It gets very rough around day 4 and then continues until your WBC, RBC all your counts start to increase. Mine started around day 12. I was released day 18 but had to be readmitted the next day because of spiking a fever. But after that, it was just a slow process. Honestly, it took a year to really recover. But I am grateful everyday for science, medical professionals, and my family’s support.

Now I’m facing another relapse, but I’ve gotten more time than lots of other myeloma buddies I have known.

So another part of the journey begins.

Simple Sunday and my 15th SCT birthday!!

Posted in Bone marrow transplant, California, cancer, cooking, Flylady, Multiple myeloma, Myeloma, Walking by

Yep, Tomorrow would have been day 0 of my stay at the BMT unit at Sutter Hospital in 2006.

I was in for 18 days ( I think) it may have been 17. The nurses and staff were amazing. They come in and do what needs to be done and then leave. Most days I just laid in bed but once a day I’d walk the hall with B just to move. Most of what I remember was it was raining outside a lot. I’d be awake at 3am and see sheets of rain going across the freeway. The reintroduction of Stem Cells is anti climatic. It’s a bag that’s feed into the IV and it’s done. The worst Chemo has already been done a few days before. After the Stem cells, it’s just hurry up and wait for your numbers to plunge to zero and then slowly your immune system starts to reboot. It’s about day 11-14 you start to see the change.

Well, I had 4 years of remission before I relapsed and went on Revlimid. That was in 2010. So I’m pretty lucky. Many of ‘old crowd’ of myelomers are gone and sadly so. I’m grateful everyday to be here to enjoy the life I have.

Simple Sunday news.

We had a lovely walk with NO one in the park but us and the geese. My feet still bother me but walking actually seems to help the neuropathy. Sunrise is so early that we are getting there at 6 but it’s already light. I’m thinking next week to try and back it up to 5:45 am but we’ll see. With daylight savings in march 6am will be 7am so definitely not walking that late.

I’m making a King Arthur batch of lemon ginger scones. They are baking.

I”m going to put a turkey breast in the crockpot for dinner. I’m hoping it comes out ok, if not I have tofu I will make anyway. My son isn’t crazy about turkey so the tofu will be an option.

We have a Home Depot order to pick up but my daughter and B will do that soon. We need some 3ft to put around the front area garden to keep Rosie the chicken out.

I am going to start the second coat of paint here in awhile.

This week I’m in the bedroom zone so the fresh paint on the door is a nice improvement. OOPs, looks like that was last week. this week is a split week of Living room and then March 1 entry ways!!!!

Stem Cell Transplant 12 year -new birthday!!

Posted in Multiple myeloma, Uncategorized by

It was a rainy day Feb 28, 2006, when I was admitted to Sutter Memorial Hospital Bone Marrow Transplant unit. It was a small unit of only 6 rooms.  Each patient is in isolation because of having little to no immune system working. Every day, a cleaner came in and did the entire room top to bottom. The nurses were the kindest and very experienced in their field. It takes a special person to be that nurse.

I can’t exactly remember but I think I was given the Melphalan that day, and then the stem cells are given either the next day or the day after.  It’s the Melphalan that does you in as it kills everything along with the hope it’s killing the cancer cells.  Then it’s the stem cells that actually rebuild your immune system and white blood cells. But first, you go thru white blood count dropping to close to zero, plasma transfusions as your red blood count is so low, horrible diarrhea, and on and on.

12 years ago today. I’m one of the lucky ones as my SCT did work and I had 4 years of remission.

But it was singularly the worst experience of my life. Yet, I’m grateful for the medicine, my doctors and transplant specialist, nurses and of course my family. They got me through.

So Happy New birthday to me.

Simple Sunday

Posted in cooking, Myeloma, Uncategorized by

Our internet is out so I’m using B’s hot spot in his phone for the internet. ATT will be here this morning. After they fixed the lines that went down in the storm the wifi has not worked. This happens every 2-3 years so I guess we should have expected it.  But I was able to pay some bills and send off an email I needed to.

It is quite cold( 31 , this morning). But at least it’s sunny. Today, I’m going to the gym with my daughter who joined yesterday. What fun, now we can go together.

Flylady has 2 zones this week as Feb ends and March begins.

This also marks my 11 th birthday from my SCT. I went into the hospital Feb 28 and was released March 17. I spiked a fever and had to go back in for another night but overall it was ok. It takes a lot out of you since the drug Melphalan is basically mustard gas poison that is given to you to kill as many myeloma cells as possible. Then your own stem cells are reintroduced.  You basically have your white blood cells go to zero and red too. I needed 2 transfusions.  Finally, the stem cells start to produce healthy cells and your white blood and red blood count starts to go up.  It is very difficult and you’re basically half dead.

So as this new month begins , here’s to my elevensies birthday. 🙂

I need to go the market for some milk and ? cat food. I’m not sure what’s on the dinner menu except I have asparagus to use up so I’ll roast those in the oven. Maybe a quiche?? I need to check the freezer to see that I’ve got.