Hi Mavis,
Great news that your PPs have taken the hint. Lets hope they stay that way for a long time.
I had a couple of months off after CDT and I didn't have any real problems and the effects slowly wore off and I began to feel more normal. A bit down on energy though, that didn't return fully until after my STC.
Best wishes,
Andy

Hi Penny,
Good luck with your STC. I hope it all goes well and you are spared infections and pop out at the other end very quickly on an upward slope to a long remission.
If the good wishes of lots of folk have any meaning, then success is assured.
Andy

Hi Vickie and Colin,

Following your thread reminds me of many of the ups and downs and the uncertainties of the journey from being ill, to diagnosis and then on to primary treatment and from there to the STC route.

Going from being desperately ill (in hindsight) then feeling better(ish) and able to function to some extent despite the effects…[Read more]

Please be very careful,people, before getting involved with TV researchers. I spent most of my working life as a film editor and made films and programs over a very wide range of topics. Be aware that although some projects are a serious attempt to convey some meaning and insight into human existence, i.e. serious documentaries,
many end up as…[Read more]

Hi Vicky and Colin,

I had my STC last Autumn and with the harvesting and all the other mucking about involved, it is a lot of effort for everyone involved. I spent a total of 7 days as an in-patient (N&N try to get you home as much as they can). Yes, it is quite hard and uncomfortable, they are after all filling you up with some pretty strong…[Read more]

Hi Keith,
I'm sorry you have relapsed, though it's good to know that there are more and more effective therapies being developed to give us hope. When I was on CDT everything had an odd taste which I was told was due to the Dex. I'll be able to find out soon as Dex will be part of my new regime too. Best of luck with your Revlimid/Dex…[Read more]

Hello Mavis,
I have to get it done at hospital because although the injection is very small and quick it is done through a cannula and needs to be accompanied with a saline flush. Tuesdays and Fridays at hospital is a bore but its only 20 minutes down the road so compared with some poor souls, I've got it very easy really. Also the day clinic is…[Read more]

Thank you for your kind thoughts Helen and Eva. My consultant thinks that if STC fails as early as mine has, the next one is very likely going to fail quickly too. Given the amount of time and discomfort involved with stem cell treatment, I will see what the Velcade can do for a while. The first cycle starts two days after we were due to go on…[Read more]

Hi Terry,
There seem to be any number of plumbing systems used to harvest us. I had an aphoresis line that went into my neck. It worked very well and all samples, transfusions and everything went through the two tubes. In my case I could do anything I wanted within the extent of the length of the tubes connecting me to the machine. I could have…[Read more]

Hi Amelie,
Has anyone suggested that the pain John is getting in his ribs might be caused by shingles? I had two episodes of shingles in eighteen months prior to diagnosis with MM. The first time, I had classic shingles with the characteristic chicken pox rash and the second time mainly pain around my ribcage but with only a tiny short lived…[Read more]

Hi Only Me,
Sorry your Mum is feeling so low but although at the time it's horrible, it does improve. I had my STC 9 weeks ago and like your mum, my neutrofils zeroed at day 6. On day 7 I was readmitted to hospital with a grumbling temperature(Norwich does STC's with as much time at home as they can). By day 9 my mouth and every thing South of it…[Read more]

Hello Helen,
I'm glad that the big things are going so well for you. The little ones can be very annoying though, can't they? I'm at six weeks after my STC and like you, am doing fine. I still don't know what my PPs are yet though. I still have some hair although I've had to cut it very short so it doesn't look like the moths have been at it. I…[Read more]

Hi, Thanks for your thoughts.I will of course be guided in all things by my consultant and I am thinking more in terms of a wish list at present. These are such early days for me and I have no way of knowing how my PP levels will respond in the coming months. When and if they get to a suitable state and my consultant advises that it's the right…[Read more]

Hi Dave,
I think we are sailing a parallel course. I too started treatment with radiotherapy on my thoracic spine with a vertebra pinching my spinal cord and have the same problems with my legs. As I'm feeling much better now and the weather is improving I'm hoping to get out and walk and do much more execise because I have been stuck indoors not…[Read more]

Thank you Min, David & Keith. Your experiences are very helpful, but as you say it's such an individual thing it's, I suppose, what happens in the next few months will decide what will happen and I'm just a bye-stander really. If my paraproteins keep falling at the original rate I should be down to zero by about next Wednesday! Haha! I'm being…[Read more]

Hello all
Thank for your kind welcome. Even as a beginner this forum makes it clear how much we all share similar experiences as we confront myeloma as well as the illness itself and the related issues of side-effects and "bits dropping off" as a consequence of it. I am sure that I will be able to learn from the experience of others and I hope,…[Read more]

Hi Sharon,
I'm new to this forum but just under a month ago I went to a hospital appointment with back pain and in the course of four hours had been diagnosed with myeloma, given dex, sampled for bone & bone marrow, MRI'd and admitted on bed rest, next day the radiotherapy began. It all came as something of a shock. They kept me in for three days…[Read more]