...I was readmitted to the hospital on January 18th, 2007. I had to get ready for my Transplant. The Doctor who would be handling my transplant procedure was Dr. Tsiporah Shore. She is the associate director of The Bone Marrow & Stem Cell Transplantation program at NY Presbyterian Hospital.
Dr. Shore is a wonderful woman and so is her assistant. (Jesse).
... The doctors told me i would be getting very high doses of Chemo the next 3 days. The doctors needed to destroy most of my good blood cells & immune system before i was injected with my sister's Stem Cells. The doctors decided that i would have a Stem Cell Transplant (SCT) instead of a Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT).
...The difference is this : In a BMT, they would put the donor out with anesthesia and put a big needle in their lower back (the hip bone) and draw out blood for about 2-3 hours. The donor will then feel some pain when they wake up that lasts a few days.... In a SCT, the donor (my sister Nellie) is awake and laying down for about 8 hours and having blood drawn from her vein. There is no pain during or afterwards. The blood then goes through a machine and they take out a couple of bags of her Stem cells. They then hook up the bags to my vein in either my neck or arm and give me her Stem cells. I was so happy they chose to go with my arm.
...Before they could begin the transplant, I had to get surgery to put a blood filter in my neck and connected to my heart. I needed that because of my blood clot in my lung. The filter was used as a blood thinner. They sliced my neck and jugular vein open and ran the filter down to my heart. I was put on local anesthesia. I did feel some pain and discomfort.
... The doctors told me i would be getting very high doses of Chemo the next 3 days. The doctors needed to destroy most of my good blood cells & immune system before i was injected with my sister's Stem Cells. The doctors decided that i would have a Stem Cell Transplant (SCT) instead of a Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT).
...The difference is this : In a BMT, they would put the donor out with anesthesia and put a big needle in their lower back (the hip bone) and draw out blood for about 2-3 hours. The donor will then feel some pain when they wake up that lasts a few days.... In a SCT, the donor (my sister Nellie) is awake and laying down for about 8 hours and having blood drawn from her vein. There is no pain during or afterwards. The blood then goes through a machine and they take out a couple of bags of her Stem cells. They then hook up the bags to my vein in either my neck or arm and give me her Stem cells. I was so happy they chose to go with my arm.
...Before they could begin the transplant, I had to get surgery to put a blood filter in my neck and connected to my heart. I needed that because of my blood clot in my lung. The filter was used as a blood thinner. They sliced my neck and jugular vein open and ran the filter down to my heart. I was put on local anesthesia. I did feel some pain and discomfort.
...( I wish i was back in Italy on vacation. I had just gotten back from Italy when i was diagnosed with Leukemia)...
...I began the high doses of Chemo on Friday and had it round the clock until Sunday. I was getting weaker and sicker. I was laying there scared and hopeful. After the 3 days of Chemo (Fri-Sun.) they told me i would be getting 4 days of high doses of Full Body Radiation. That would take place from Monday-Thursday.
...I will continue the pre- Stem Cell Transplant procedure in my next post. Have a great day... Lorenzo
...I began the high doses of Chemo on Friday and had it round the clock until Sunday. I was getting weaker and sicker. I was laying there scared and hopeful. After the 3 days of Chemo (Fri-Sun.) they told me i would be getting 4 days of high doses of Full Body Radiation. That would take place from Monday-Thursday.
...I will continue the pre- Stem Cell Transplant procedure in my next post. Have a great day... Lorenzo
...The picture above is of Venice, Italy... (I've been thinking about taking a nice vacation to Venice lately).
Lorenzo,
ReplyDeleteI happened upon your blog by accident. Although we do not know one another, your post grabbed my attention. At one time I used to volunteer to give platelets to patients, so I am aware of the machine your sister used. What a wonderful thing for her to do! Please know I will pray for you, and for the treatment process to be as easy on you as possible.
Thank you Tsofah....
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