Stem cell transplant with high blast count
Good morning all,
I am reaching out in hopes of finding someone who’s situation is similar to my husbands. My husband has been on three rounds of chemotherapy in attempts to get him in remission. Unfortunately, MD Anderson has been unsuccessful in achieving this with him.. His blast count as of two weeks ago was 10%. We thought they would attempt to put him on a fourth round to reduce his blast count, but that is not the plan. He’s been in and out of the hospital with neutropenic fevers. The doctor said that do not wan to wait any longer and that he needs to go to stem cell. I am obviously looking for a little bit of hope here. Most people that we have talked to have been in remission before proceeding to stem cell. Looking to see if there’s anyone out there with a similar situation that has a success story. Thank you
Comments
Hi Alyssary, welcome to the forum. I'm one of the online community champions here and a stem cell transplant patient myself, having had a transplant for ALL in 2013.
I'm sorry to hear about your husbands predicament, which I'm sure is worrying for you both. It's not something I have direct experience of as I was in remission before my transplant as a result of the preceding chemotherapy. I can only guess that the hope is that the final chemo he will recieve immediately before the transplant might wipe the remaining blasts out and allow the transplant to work.
The forum is a supportive place and we have a variety of patients and relatives who may have a similar experience, so hopefully someone will reply with their insight. the Anthony Nolan patient and familes team also monitor the forum and one of them can hopefully assist with some information about your situation.
You can also contact the Anthony Nolan team directly via the Anthony Nolan Helpline, where Patient Services can be reached (0303 303 0303, Mon-Fri, 9-5) and they will hopefully be able to help you directly.
I hope you're able to get an answer that helps give you some reassurance, either here via the forum or directly from the Anthony Nolan team.
Kind regards,
Steve
Hello Alyssary
My name is Michelle, I am an online community champion like Steve, and a transplant recipient my self for lymphoma and histiocytosis.
I'm sorry to hear of your husbands situation and I can relate to how concerned you must be about the prospect of undergoing such an intense treatment whilst he has active disease.
I was not in remission when I went in for my stem cell transplant. I had received 4 rounds of chemotherapy, 1 immunological combined with biological treatments, I had also relapsed 3 times and my condition spread.
I had reached a point where having the Stem cell transplant was the only option. There was lots of talks about how to proceed and given I had active disease, there was lots of questions about how intense the conditioning therapy should be.
When I went in for conditioning I ended up having the lower intensity regeime, I forget what the clinical name was, and a lot of supportive treatments to ensure my immune system was a depleted as possible. However the chemotherapy I received in conditioning therapy was different to what I had been having so there was hope it would have a big enough impact to allow the new cells to graft.
My recovery wasn't straight forward because I went into it with some activity, but with lots of supportive treatments after day 0, blood transfusion and platelets my body was able to adapt and start healing.
Everyone's experience having an SCT with active disease will look different. My body and mind went through alot but despite having active disease at time of allow SCT I came through.
Please continue to reach out or if you need further support you can contact Anthony Nolans Emotional Support team at
Or call 03033030303
Best wishes,
Michelle