Change of Plans / BMT?
 

We were packing to go to Vancouver for our appointment with the Hematologist, when the phone rang. Apparently they want to see us on June 30th instead. And the reason? so we can meet with a BMT specialist.

Also, due to his Atypical Karyotypes, they think he does NOT have MDS now. I did some self research and i'm leaning towards atypical CML. Which would explain why we are meeting with a transplant specialist.

So when you have a BMT, does the patient stay in the hospital the whole time? what kind of timeline are we looking at there? I read 4-6 weeks.

I know, I know, stop googling. ;)

Hospital time varies by patient and by transplant type, Typically with an allogeneic transplant, the procedure is done on an in-patient basis and you can expect a hospital stay of 21 to 45 days depending on conditioning regimen, engraftment, and potential for complications. It seems that most people are out by about day 30 or so if everything goes according to plan.

Autologous transplants are done a little differently and frequently are started on an outpatient basis and have a shorter hospital stay of about 14 days from what I have seen.

Does Autologous meaning a sibling match?

After a BMT, can you go back to work? I read somewhere that it could take a year to be healthy enough to return to work. My husband works at the Cancer Clinic up here. I'm sure they would accommodate him with light duty, but I'm just wondering how long you have to be extra careful about being around sick people and infection.

I had a 17 day stay in the hospital (Day -4 through Day +13). Then we were required to stay within twenty minutes of the hospital for 80 days for many good reasons. I was going back to the hospital three days a week for a while, then that tapered to a couple of times a week and then once a week at the end. Treatment doesn't end with the transplant.

There is considerable information available on the internet explaining the procedure which varies depending on the facility and type of disease. You will get a lot of information prior to transplant. It will be very important to stay away from infectious diseases for quite a while. There is no way I could have gone back to work for several months after transplant.

There are two main types of stem cell transplants: autologous, in which the patient receives his or her own stem cells, and allogeneic, in which stem cells are donated by another person. MDS uses allo.

I spent a week in the hospital after my transplant. For 1 month I was going to the BMT clinic 7 days a week. It tapered down to twice a week in the next 2 months. At that point I could have done a light duty job. I was walking 3 miles a day. At 5 months I had severe infections and spent 2 months in the hospital without being able to eat. I took 5 months to recover from that. Everyone's experience is different.

Ray