[alanjamesbyrneParticipant]

hi all ,due to start stem cell next week ,can any body tell me why ,I am having chemo and then the stem cell harvest on a day visit to hospital ,I thought when I had chemo they would keep me in as your immune system is non existent,seems strange that I have the chemo and then go back after a week for stem cell harvest ,and then wait another week for oncoligy,and another week before I do the stem cell replacement,then they take in ,isolation for up to three weeks ,surely I am likely to catch all sorts of viruses and bugs .and Christ knows what else , I thought the idea was to protect me against that ,

[stanley-1960Participant]

Hi, Alan,

Once you have had your full course of Chemo as per your consultant the final part of the process is a larger dose of chemo which some call a priming. The purpose is to raise the CD34 count in combination with GCSF injections which in turn will assist in the harvesting of as many stem cells as possible. The harvesting process is expensive so they will normally not go ahead unless your CD34 count 10 or more. Mine was 11 but was given Mozobil to aid further which brought my CD34 count to 98. In the end for me because my count was so high on the harvest day i only needed one 6 hour session which yielded 11.2 million. It will also helps with reducing the myeloma proteins before SCT.My neutrophils after priming were still around 3 (2-7 normal range) but it did reduce my white blood cells to just below 1 (4-11 normal range) but after GCSF injections and mozobil and before harvest my counts were WBC 9.2 and neutrophils 6.5. So in my case the most important marker neutrophils were normal all the way through. When you go into hospital to have High dose melphalan thats when your neutrophil and all other cells will be completely wiped out and will be at risk. Some hospitals will send you home after melphalan for a few days until you bloods start dropping and some will keep you in. Your release will depend on a lot of things but however well you feel you should not be released until your neutrophils rise above 1 once your stem cells start grafting.

Best of luck

Stanley

[alanjamesbyrneParticipant]

Thank you Stanley ,much appreciated

[CarolsymonsParticipant]

Hi Alan
The first chemo before collection is not as severe as the melphalan. I still think you need to be careful and stay at home as much as you can cos it will knock your immunity down. Usually once your counts drop with the melphalan before transplant you will become neutropenic and be at great risk of infections.

Carol

[stanley-1960Participant]

Alan,

Sorry if i was unclear in my reply. I echo carol’s sentiments with staying at home and reducing contact to prevent any possibility of infection.

Best regards,

Stanley

[amandaParticipant]

Hi Everyone

Just a little puzzler perhaps someone out there has experienced the same.  I have had a count of 2000 in the light chain serum test, that has been the same for a few months now.  This test was done at Canterbury.  On a visit to Kings Hospital I had to have a blood test to get my latest reading of light chain serum and it came back at 180.  My consultant at Canterbury didn’t believe that could be possible .  Had another one done this has come back at 2000 yet again .  Now Kings have asked for another to be done as they don’t believe this result either. How can two hospitals be so different , as now my chemo has been stopped whilst they find out but my consultant wants the chemo to continue.  Has anyone had a huge difference and what was the outcome. good luck everyone .

[dickbParticipant]

perhaps someone put the decimal point in the wrong place

[amandaParticipant]

Yes Richard , we did think that too.  Quite a big difference that little 0 that means nothing to some but much to me.

[iangParticipant]

Hi Amanda

I suspect the labs use different units (i.e. Canterbury results in mg/L and Kings results in mg/dL). 180 mg/dL is equivalent to 1800 mg/L.

[Author]

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