I do not know what you imagine when you think about ‘a stem cell transplant’?  I envisaged being in an operation table, practically having a complex and a lengthy operation.  The truth about a stem cell transplant could not have any more different.

Yesterday it was the day zero, and I got my stem cells back.  Do not get me wrong, it was really exciting, but not quite how imagined it to be.  I had two bags of stem cells the nursing staff needed to give back to me.  This happened in two sections, with a little break in between.  First the nurses needed to thaw the cells as they had been frozen.  The cells were put into these big syringes, about four of them, and then they were injected via my LTS central line.  They had a limited time, about 20 minutes for each bag, when the job needed to be done.  A second they started the injection, I felt this horrid taste, and smell in my mouth.  My eyes started to water and felt awfully sick.  I started to gag and cough. These feelings just got worse as the nurse continued to push in the stem cells through.  She felt bad for me, but they could not stop.  Those fabulous cells needed to be in me, before the time was up.  I have to say, having stem cells back is AWFUL.  But, the good news is, I recovered pretty quickly!  I have been feeling a little sick on and off since.  But, according to the nurses I did well, many are sick during and after the transplant.

So what is going to happen now is those lovely stem cells will travel their way into my bone marrow to make loads of lovely new blood cells for me.  In the mean time my blood counts will drop to zero for the next 7-10 days, and I will feel rubbish. After this, my blood counts will slowly start improving.  And once my neutrophils are 0.5 or above, and I am otherwise well, I can go home!

I walked into the day room this morning, and started to feel faint, so I think I will stay in bed for now anyway.  Although, my counts are still pretty good, my white blood cell count today is 1.5.  OK, it is not brilliant, as normal white blood cells count for an adult is 4 to 11 x 10 ⁹/l.  I will get there!

My stem cells are in those large syringes, ready to be injected.

There they go, into the LTS line and then they will travel into my bone marrow!