1. < Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) & CAR-T Cell Therapy
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Anyone hire help to stay with you during bone marrow transplant?

Posted by loribeyerlein @loribeyerlein, Jul 30 10:13am

Has anyone tried hiring help that will stay in your room with you for a week ? 24/7 ? Are there any companies that do that in Rochester ? Near mayo . Has it worked for you if you did ?

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rrtdave | @rrtdave | Oct 4 3:38pm
In reply to @george12345 "@rrtdave It's a minimum of 30 days of daily blood monitoring and infusions. You can not..." + (show)
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@rrtdave
It's a minimum of 30 days of daily blood monitoring and infusions. You can not go it alone. With out a caregiver, staying in the hospital is your only alternative . Good luck. Our prayers for you.

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@george12345
Thanks, I would have no problems with the hospital stay, well at leat at Fargo, ND, however I going home to Wyoming and will be at SLC for treatment. Thanks for the reply and info.

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rrtdave | @rrtdave | Oct 4 3:45pm
In reply to @gagathemom "@rrtdave I had a stem cell transplant July 24, 2026. I rented a pet friendly vrbo..." + (show)
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@rrtdave I had a stem cell transplant July 24, 2026.
I rented a pet friendly vrbo near Mayo Clinic so our special needs dog could be with us (my husband was my designated caregiver)
I wanted to be inpatient but it was discouraged by the transplant team because of germs and boredom. I really still wanted to be inpatient so my husband could stay home where he was comfortable and take care of our dogs and our house but went with the recommendation to stay somewhere.
I ended up in the hospital for 6 days due to side effects such as diarrhea, vomiting, dehydration and a fever. I had booked the vrbo for 3 weeks and we had to stay an extra week so while I was in the hospital I had to find another pet friendly vrbo and my husband and our dog had to move our stuff to a new location. Also, it was pricey. My husband is kind and caring but I spent a lot of time being concerned about his health and our dog and taking care of them. I really didn’t have anyone to take care of our dogs or be my caregiver (although my daughter stayed with me the last 5 days in the vrbo so my husband could take our dog to vet appointments and get away and go home)
In hindsight, I wish I would have been inpatient for the entire time especially since our medical insurance would have covered it (or most of it) and I would have been surrounded by caring, knowledgeable, professional caregivers.
Go with your instincts.
I’m home and working on recovering from the transplant. Doing ok other than some aches and pains when I try to exercise and still fatigued but can’t stay asleep at night. My 100 day bone marrow biopsy is November 2 and I will also find out about when I can start receiving vaccines.
I’m grateful and hopeful but I’m also still a bit traumatized by the whole experience.
I am 71 years old and was healthy. A compression fracture on my vertebrae led to the diagnosis of multiple myeloma July 2025.

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@gagathemom
I agree with entire stay in hospital, I don't have alot of family or friends that can leave work, to care for me for months. I will follow my instincts too, I was a Registered Respiratory Therapist for 43 years, so understand medical procedures and test results, but being a patient is alot different than providing care to others. Doing alot of praying and keeping a positive attitude. Thanks for your reply and insight.

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Moderator
Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | 5 days ago
In reply to @george12345 "@rrtdave It's a minimum of 30 days of daily blood monitoring and infusions. You can not..." + (show)
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@rrtdave
It's a minimum of 30 days of daily blood monitoring and infusions. You can not go it alone. With out a caregiver, staying in the hospital is your only alternative . Good luck. Our prayers for you.

Jump to this post

Hi @george12345, I see you pop in from time to time in the BMT/CAR-T group. Have you had a bone marrow transplant? How long ago? How are you doing now?

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pamsman | @pamsman | 4 days ago

My stem cell transplant was in January 2025. I started off with a rotation of friends and family members, until my wife fell and broke her wrist, she had been the primary caregiver and the others were there as back up. So suddenly my primary caregiver needed her own caregivers. At that point, I was readmitted as an inpatient at Mayo for the last couple of weeks of my hundred days.
Sometimes the best laid plans do indeed fall asunder.
God's blessings

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