Post Punk Kitchen Forum

My mum's just started chemo in preparation for a stem cell transplant (autologous) later this month as part of her treatment for leukemia and myeloma. If anyone has stories of awesomeness about these treatments to share, please do.

I've banned myself from googling because I already know she's going to have some unpleasant times so don't want to read those stories, and I don't want to sift through anti-stem cell propaganda posted by the Scared of Science Brigade.

Thanks!

It's not the exact same thing, but my MIL had a bone marrow transplant for her lyphoma a few years ago. I won't lie: it was difficult for us all. But it cured her. She'd had the disease for nearly 10 years, and then after the transplant, she was 100% cancer free within weeks. It was like a forking miracle.

Good luck to your mom. It's going to be rough for a while, but the outcome may just amaze everyone.

Yay for your MIL, Adah! That's exactly the kind of result I want (need) to hear about. Thanks for the well-wishes, too.

Sorry to hear about this, Mendelian! One of my good friends in college went through this with her mom, only she had multiple myeloma. They did a transplant of her own stem cells, which has helped her to live for 12 years now! She is having some recurrence at this point, but is much farther out than they thought she would go. The process was long and difficult, but it was definitely worth it in the end. One of my memories from that time was spending the night at my friend's house and her mom coming out of the bedroom around 2am to clean the bricks on the mantle with a toothbrush. The steroids they had her take made her really hyper and she had a hard time sleeping. On the plus side, she was really productive during that time! Best of luck with everything!

Thanks, tarajasmom. That's the exact treatment my mother is facing - I didn't know that it could last for 12 years (I mean, I know that that's way beyond the norm), so it's great to hear stories like that. Big puffy hearts to you and your friend as she starts dealing with the recurrence.