It was 3 years ago today when I became just that little bit more like my Dad as I had my first Transplant. It was a Tuesday in 1999, and at 3:50 p.m. Eastern time the first drops of my Dad’s marrow flowed into me. My first Transplant, which used my Dad’s bone marrow, took about 3 hours to flow in, as opposed to my second which used his stem cells and took only about 20 minutes. I refer to my Transplants generically, but the first was bone marrow, the second was stem cell, and they were much the same for me, but no similar for my Dad. Both of my Transplants are referred to as “Allo’s”, which means that I received another person’s marrow/stem cells, another kind of Stem Cell Transplant is called an “Auto”, which means that the Patient gets their own stem cells. We have started to do the “Auto’s” in Newfoundland, but the “Allo’s” are much more involved thus I had to travel to Toronto and Ottawa respectively for my Transplants.
The name difference, marrow vs. stem cells, comes from the process used to harvest the cells from the Donour. With a Bone Marrow Transplant the Donour has minor surgery which involves harvesting bone marrow from the back of the hips. It is fairly low on the involvement level, especially when considering the benefits to the Recipient, but it does require anaesthetic and my Dad did have sore hips for a week or so. The Stem Cell Transplant is much improved from the Donour’s side, I say without actually being the Donour, as this time out my Dad was placed on a drug called GCS-F, which I have been on many times, he took that injection for a few days prior to the harvest. Then the harvest involved the use of an aphaeresis machine, simply he was hooked from a vein in one arm, his blood ran through the machine, which removed about 7 trillion stem cells, and then the rest of his blood flowed back into him through the other arm. He was awake the whole time, watched a movie I think. Amazing what they have thought of!
The Patient’s side differs regarding time and there is evidence to support down time differs as well. The time was much different and that was largely due to the fact that with a Bone Marrow Transplant I received 1.2 litres of fluid, and they gave that to me over 3 hours. The Stem Cell Transplant, all 7 trillion stem cells, only amounted to 256 ml, thus it only took about 20 minutes to have my second Transplant. And as you can see from the pictures on the website, I was awake the whole time, and didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary, which was the case for both Transplants. The out of the ordinary stuff came in the days, weeks and months that would follow each Transplant.
Another difference between the two methods is the down time, which refers to the time Patient’s blood levels stay low. My first Transplant saw me take about 31 days until my counts came back to acceptable levels, which means having white cells of at least 2.0. The second time out my white cells did come back sooner, and I also required fewer blood transfusions, both of which are nice Positives from the Patient’s perspective.
Each of the past 2 years on this date I have had a party to celebrate still being here, and this year while I’m not having a party, I am certainly celebrating still bring here. This day, 3 years ago, represented the beginning of what I thought was my road back. At the time of my first Transplant I felt that April 13th would be a turning point, and from there I would begin to work myself back to something similar to old form. I was wrong. I couldn’t have predicted what would happen with my summer ICU sleep, or the rebuilding that was required after that. But that day was still a turning point for me, it represented, and still represents progress through a very difficult uncertain time. Both Transplants were tough decisions for me, for different reasons, but they were tough and working through the decisions, weighing my options, thinking through my priorities, the risks and rewards, that was a very tough process. But I can look back on this day in 1999, and October 10th of last year, as days when I was able to face my tough decision and work through it as best I knew how. That’s some of what this day means to me.
The truth is that no matter how much I talk or write about my experiences, no matter how much I think about where I’ve been and what I’ve seen, and no matter how much I plan and prepare for tomorrow, I’m the happiest kid in the world just to be here, right now. Have a great Saturday.
Always…
Live Life. Love Life.
Geoff
