MY STEM CELL JOURNEY
SEPTEMBER 1996
Halo Angels,
Thought I would share my stem cell journey with you.
Stage 3a, bc has been researched to be the best
stage for this procedure. If you do well and the
tumor is not resistant to conventional chemos, stem
cell may work for you!
It did for me. I am 6 years out! Here is my journey:
Hello to all my new bosom buds of the Net. My name
is Sharon (SassyL), I am a survivor of bc since
December 19, 1995.
I found a sore 2 ½ cm lump, right breast and several
smaller ones which added up to almost 5cm, that
brought me to a stage 3A, NO family history of any
kind of cancer. Dx: Infiltrating Interductal
Carcinoma, 12 of 21 lymph nodes positive, grade 3
aggressive tumor, poorly differentiated,
er/pr/negative. At this time, Her2neu was still under
investigations. Treatment: Mod. Radical
mastectomy, right breast, conventional chemo,
Adriamycin x 4, & then CMF.
I was having radiation therapy at this time and the M
= methotextrate is recommended not to be taken
during rads because of causing serious burns. It only
took me one treatment with the CMF to realise this,
but I so wanted the chemo to be most effective so I
had to try the M at least once but the rads did burn
my neck to a crisp! So, my next 5 chemos were just
the CF whilst doing rads. Seems I always have to
learn the hard way! Six weeks of maximum
radiation. After all my conventional treatments were
finished I decided to be more aggressive than my bc
was. I opted for Bone Marrow Transplant also. Stem
cell was an option for me at the beginning of my
diagnosis, however I decided to save it for later if I
should ever need it. Whilst going through rads there
was reason to have a biopsy on a node felt on my
scar line…scared me into going ahead with this
procedure. I also wanted to do all that I could, to be
a survivor!
Stem Cell Harvest and Transplant=SCHT.
An
autogolousBone Marrow Transplant is where they
harvested
my own immatur stem cells (wbc).
I have a wonderful hubby of 20 years, 21 this
November 16th and super kids! 3 beautiful children,
great supporting friends and family all around me
and FriendsInNeed my online support family.
My breast cancer fight song is "I get knocked down,
but I get up again, your (bc) is never gonna keep me
down."
This is my step by step experience of Stem Cell
Harvest and Transplant.
After my mastectomy my oncologist gave me several
options of different chemo protocols and radiation
and/or a bone marrow transplant. If you want
statistics, after all the conventional treatment I had a
25% chance of surviving 5 years. With the stem cell
procedure under my belt it changed my survival rate
*** from 25% to 68%, but I felt like I had to do all
that was available to me. But now I have learned
that statistics mean nothing when you are talking
about your life, there are too many different kinds,
types of bc, grades, node pos/neg etc. Bc is as
individual as each and everyone is different from
each other!
Before going to Duke U in Durham N.C. I had to have
2 - 3 taxols. One week before stem cell harvest I
started on growth factory injections x 7 days. One
month later I went to Duke U. I had a Hickman
catheter installed (port with a double lumen). They
harvest (pheresis) my stem cells x 3 days and
platelets x 3 days @ RBC. Then I had 4 days rest.
The harvest took about 5 to 6 hours per day. Then I
was admitted to the hospital for hi dose chemo x 4
days. During these 4 days I received high doses of
Cytoxan, cis-platinum 24 hours/day x 3 days. On
the 4th day I had BCNU which is carmustine. All
completely lowered my blood counts as low as they
could go. On the 5th day I was discharged to the BM
clinic as an outpatient. I had to have a caregiver 24
hours/day as an outpatient, THANK YOU, MOM!
During the next 3 days I received my own stem cells
back x 3 days through my Hickman. One bag of my
stem cells infused completely in 15 minutes each
morning. I arrived at the clinic at 7:30, which
always included a doctor's exam, blood work, taken
through my Hickman catheter, growth factory
everyday - Neupogen. I was on antinauseant,
antibiotics, antithrush, antianxiety, antidiarrheal
meds by mouth and/or infused. It took 31/2 weeks
of this routine for my counts to get almost normal
again. During this time I could not eat any fresh
fruit or veggies, like I really wanted anything! I could
only eat small amounts of Jell-O or vanilla puddings,
very slowly. Ginger ale sipped slowly too, it was all I
could handle at the time. I could not be around
people. I was very nauseated, carried my hurl
bucket on my walks back and forth to the clinic. The
hotel that worked with Duke U was right in front of
the BM clinic. It was a nice walk; under different
circumstances I am sure it would have been even
nicer! The Hampton Inn was not far from Duke
Hospital either. Walking helped my recuperation
time a lot I believe.
Whatever my bloodwork showed was lacking it would
be replenished daily or twice daily through my
Hickman catheter. Stem cells are immature WBC, so as they
mature, your counts get better and better, more
normal. When your stem cells start maturing your
counts will start to climb. It was normal to run a
fever that was the proof every thing was working, as
it should.
My breast cancer is MY breast cancer. None are
alike. As the side effects of stem cell transplant and
high dose chemo are never the same in one person. I
have 3 other friends who had stem cell transplants a
year after me, different drugs. One bosom bud was
out riding her bike a week after arriving home!
You will want to stay away from crowded places,
schools, grocery stores etc because your counts are
still struggling upward after returning home. If you
have to go somewhere there are a lot of people you
should wear a mask until your counts are more back
to normal. It was no fun but I am glad I had the
option and did it! I am a SURVIVOR!
I have received a lot of requests about my Stem Cell
Harvest and Transplant and I don't think I could type
it the same way twice. Sorry if I have jumped
around on ya' a little bit but I have written it one
time too many! I had copied it to floppy but
somehow it got erased so here I am again. This will
come to you as an attachment. Yes I am very
longwinded. If you have anymore questions please
do not hesitate
to email me
We are "AWESOME ANGELS' with support for each
other! Been there, done that! My support online is
www.friendsinneed.com, THANK HEAVENS FOR
SUSAN, OUR FEARLESS LEADER AND FRIENDS IN
NEED!
SassyL, your (unbosom) Bud of the Net
Lottsa' XOX's
p.s. the doc said - No kissing or sex till he says!
HAHAHAHAH! Like I felt really SEXY!
Updated June
4, 2003
