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Husband with AML facing a stem cell transplant
Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) & CAR-T Cell Therapy | Last Active: Sep 7 11:43pm | Replies (117)Comment receiving replies
Good morning Lori!
Thanks for checking in. We are at day -1 today! Tomorrow is our 19th wedding anniversary AND my husband’s second birthday! The transplant is scheduled for 3pm. The chaplain here will be giving a blessing and I hope to sneak a little slow dance in with him when we have a few minutes to ourselves. So our odyssey continues! He is stable at the moment. The only hitch has been some high blood pressure readings but he has also had a lot of fluids and Busulfan and Fludarabine “clean out” chemo. Today he started Tacrolimus and Methotrexate starts day +1.
I expect the next week or so to be rough for him so I’m trying to relax into that and know the team here has tools to help him through it. Plus I will be here to help him be as comfortable as possible.
Renting an apartment a few blocks away has been a life saver for me. I’m doing his laundry every day and able to get out for walks instead of spending 2 hours in traffic from home in the morning and evening.
This remains surreal to me. Every now and then I feel stunned that this is our reality and I know the same is true for him. But we are resilient and are adapting.
I decorated his room with photos of our family and friends. I hung hummingbird decals on his windows and I am bringing a Happy Anniversary and a Happy Birthday sign to hang in the room. All little ways of staying positive and bringing a little cheer. The summer sunlight and longer days sure does help too.
Wishing you joy and the best of health as you near your stem cell transplant anniversary!! 🙏
Mary
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Hi Mary! I had a feeling ‘we’ were getting close to Day 0! It’s generally such an anticlimactic day considering all the hype and worry leading up to the infusion of stem cells. But it is quite literally the first day of the rest of your husband’s life…a 2nd chance at life. His room sounds very cheery and uplifting. And I know you bring the sunshine to his life every day. 💕 You two are doing everything right and it’s wonderful that the chaplain will come to lend sense of spiritualism to this enormous milestone in both of your lives.
I’m glad the apartment idea is working out so well. That was a brilliant move on your part. Saves a huge amount of stress and energy for you being so nearby the hospital without fighting the daily traffic and finding parking! You’re both having separate but collective adventures right now! There will be lots of moments to talk about for the years ahead.
You’re adapting so very well to this, Mary. For a short while all of this is your new reality. But it’s not forever, it’s just for the time being. Most aspects of your former lives will resume once this speed bump in your otherwise smooth road of life has been cleared. But there will be more doctor’s appts, blood draws and little changes that might seep in. That will become the ‘new normal’…hate that term. I refer to it as my altered reality. But honestly, it’s a life I would not change if I could!
You are correct in that the next 2 weeks can be a little taxing as the side effects of the preconditioning chemo kicks in and from the transplant itself. As the blood cell count drifts south, fatigue will really take over until engraftment of those new stem cells takes place anywhere from 12+ days, at the earliest, past transplant. When his neutrophil count starts rising, he’ll start feeling much better. Don’t despair. It’s just something he has to go through but once he’s on the other side of this…watch out! You’ll have Superman ready to don the cape and tights and take on the world. LOL maybe not…
Happy Anniversary to you both and Happy Re-Birth to your husband. Give him an air-hug for me!
Prayers for a successful transplant! 🙏 Lori