A Few Days of Rest

Dave and I went to see my Oncologist this afternoon. He is pleased with my progress and attributed the one-day stem cell collection to my young age (I guess age is always relative) and good health (well, besides the cancer, of course). He told me to enjoy a few days of rest before we venture on to the next step.

Assuming there is a bed available, I'll be back in the hospital next Monday for a few days. It's time to bring out the big guns with a chemotherapy drug called Melphalan. I'll receive two days of this chemo and then on the third day, I will get my stem cells back. There will, once again, be a period of side effects including nausea and my white blood cells will bottom out just like the first round. The biggest concerns are infection, dehydration, extreme nausea, etc. Any of these could mean an extended stay in the hospital. The Dr. said the average stay is 4 days; however, Dave and I have met transplant survivors in our Myeloma support group that have been in the hospital up to 16 days. I am hopeful that I'll tolerate this next step as well as the first round of chemo, Cytoxan, but that may be a bit too optimistic. Regardless, I am confident that it's just another big step towards the finish line!