@chrissyade19
Hi Chrissy, What a lovely view and room! Dinner looks pretty good too!
My view wasn’t the same as yours but I’ve ‘been where you are’…the first day of chemo. It’s often filled with mixed emotions as you start your journey. But it’s the first day towards a healing journey as well.

I think with the ASCT that you’ll only have 1 or 2 chemo infusions? It’s enough to help prepare your bone marrow for the return of your collected stem cells. Once your marrow and blood stream are effectively cleared of the auto-reactive immune cells, the infusion of your own cells will help reset your immune system.
The cells will be infused through the port where they enter the blood stream. They tumble along inside your blood veins until they enter into the bone marrow through specialized pores. Once inside, the cells set up housekeeping again and resume making blood cells…red, white and platelets! That’s called engraftment and will take place usually anywhere from 10 to 20 days. It’s really quite amazing!

There may be some side effects with the chemo. It’s not uncommon for some nausea as the first symptom. There are no awards for remaining stoic. If you’re nauseated make sure you talk to your SCT team right away. They have meds to help keep you comfortable. It can also be helpful to your guts if you eat a some Greek yogurt daily.

Hang in there! I’m here anytime you need some moral support! ☺️