Going through treatment

A space to talk about any experiences, challenges that going through treatment can bring.

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Hello, can you advise how I can get the most recent version of the book blood and bone marrow transplantation, the seven steps?
My brother is getting his transplant in September and the book the hospital gave him is from 2012.
All help and advice is much appreciated
Thanks
Janet

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Hello @Jinnett78,

Thank you for getting in touch with us. I have included a PDF document of the seven steps here: Blood stem cell and bone marrow transplants: The seven steps. You can also contact our support services who can mail you the booklet at support@bloodwise.org.uk for your request. Feel free to let me know if you have any further questions.

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Hi @Jinnett78. I had my stem cells harvested and transplanted for aggressive, relapsing Hodgkins Lymphoma in 2008/2009. I hope all goes well for your brother and he is lucky that he has someone looking out for him. I hope the information booklet is a help

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Hi Louise,
Yours relapsed? My brothers has relapsed and is not only in his blood now but affecting his CNS also. They gave him 3 options about 2 weeks ago now, one was do nothing and maybe get two weeks, two was get palative chemo and possible get 4 weeks and the last option was to get the pretransplant chemo and transplant but there was not much hope it would work. I know each case of leukemia is different.

They were trying for a week to find where the leukemia was in his cns but he was in the 1/3 where they know it’s there but can’t find it and because the damage to his nerves was getting worse every couple of days he decided to go with the palative chemo.

He now only have days left unfortunately.

Were you also offered similar options when yours relapsed?

Thanks

Janet

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Hi Janet I had lymphoma rather than leukaemia, (rather a complicated case) which was chemo sensitive, which meant while I was having chemo the lymphoma retreated, but came back as soon as chemo stopped. As you have found out, as well as taking many forms blood cancers are as individual as each person affected.
In the Midlands the haematologists in the different hospitals liase with each other, and they could see I perhaps had 30% chance of surviving first year after transplant. My words were that as it was between death or that I had to take that chance.
I am so sorry that your brother’s story is not going to have a better outcome, and hope that his last days are peaceful.
My best wishes to you all at this time

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Hi all,
I’m new to the forum but currently undertaking research into the validity of complimentary and alternative therapies particularly surrounding care for cancer patients. A close relative of mine passed from Acute Myeloid Leukaemia and another grandparent is currently battling through radiotherapy for skin cancer melanoma which inspired me in some way to focus my research on how CAM can be used in care for such long-lasting illnesses after seeing her experience. Considering the gruelling side effects many face with conventional treatment plans such as radiotherapy, do you believe there should be increased usage or at least awareness/ NHS funding for therapies such as homeopathy, herbal remedies for pain relief and nausea for example or acupuncture as mentioned above to mitigate these side effects?

I would be very keen to hear everybody’s views on the matter!!

If you’d like to know more about the treatment experience, then please take a look at my blog:

https://www.mybloodycancerjourney.co.uk/

Hi @Pisces56 , sorry to hear that you had to go through that. Your story resonates with what my family and I are going through and I’ve been longing to come across somebody who has gone through similar. I hope you don’t mind me reaching out? My sister was diagnosed with stage 2 Hodgkin’s lymphoma in February and started treatment in April. Since then she has received ABVD and GDP chemo but unfortunately isn’t responding as well as we are all hoping for. She is now about to start a new regime of chemo (I forget the name) which apparently is more targeted towards lymphoma cells. If she responds well to this new regime then she will undergo the high dose chemo and stem cell transplant. Would you mind sharing with me your experience with your treatment leading up to the stem cell transplant as well as the transplant itself please? I would really appreciate any insight you’d be comfortable sharing. Thank you so much and take care