Right on track!

Yesterday afternoon I had an appointment with a doctor in town who specializes in blood and bone marrow transplants and I was so pleasantly surprised with the whole experience. Some patients have a hard time finding supportive doctors once returning home from receiving HSCT since it is not (yet) FDA approved for autoimmune diseases, so […]

Day +30// 1 Month//Video Update

Happy 1 Month birthday to my stem cells!!!! Yahoo!!! This month has flown by and I am happy to report that I am feeling much better than I was in my last post. I’m still pretty congested most of the time but all in all I am feeling a lot better. I made a video […]

Day +26// Rest. Hydrate. Temperature. Sanitize. Repeat.

This post is brought to you by everything antiseptic and disinfecting. Well, that certainly didn’t take long for me to come down with a cold once returning home! Earlier this week I woke up with a sore throat which gradually over a day or 2 turned into a sore throat and runny nose, and then […]

Day +16//Post Transplant Meds

Today I had a meeting with an allergist to discuss my options for the post transplant medication recommendations. Each place that does HSCT has their own protocol for post transplant recovery and Mexico recommends Acylovir for 6 months to protect from getting Shingles, as well as Bactrim to protect from PCP, which is a form […]

Day +14//Home Sweet Home

Today was my first full day back home and my goodness does it feel amazing! Yesterday I was picked up at the apartment at 6:30 in the morning and said my final goodbyes to Gabby and I got in the van to go to the airport. I’m forever grateful for Gabby and the amazing job […]

Day +12//That’s All, Folks!

This afternoon the whole group met up at the clinic for final instructions, questions and answers, and some celebrating. We are officially done here and now all we have left to do is pack up and fly out tomorrow. Dr. Elias went over a quick review of what we can expect this next year though […]

Day +11//treatment: completed!

This morning we went to the clinic and after a quick blood sample, three of us were taken to our own rooms (also used as the chemo suites) and the rituximab was started. I was a little nervous about having a skin reaction from the rituximab but I sailed through it easy breezy!! First I […]

Day +10//Video Update

Greetings!! Today was my last day in quarantine and I fully enjoyed just sitting on the couch watching Friends all day. I’m soaking it all up before I go home and go back to having normal adult responsibilities! From here on out I am free to go back to a semi-normal life. I’ll have to take […]

Day +9//almost done

Absolutely nothing to report for today. I slept in and then spent the rest of the day on the couch watching Friends and working on a little art project for my apartment. Each patient leaves behind a note of encouragement for the next incoming patient with some tips and suggestions so that is how I […]

Day +8//It’s good to be the youngster

This morning started with a blood sample being taken and then my Filgrastim shot. I had a hard time sleeping last night due to the bone pain I was having. I took a nice long hot shower and that eased the pain but as soon as I stepped out, it was like I was paralyzed […]