[IRENE FROM TAMPA]

Hi Amy -

To try to answer some of your questions regarding what stem cell transplant entails. I will try to cover as briefly as I can and if you think you might have any other questions, pls feel free to email me.

I was given the stem cell transplant in August of 1999 after being in remission for three years post first diagnosis.

A stem cell transplant for breast cancer involves having your stem cells drawn from your own blood (some patient use donor's)-
The procedure for drawing them is much like just drawing blood from you but in this case you are connected to a machine which I thought to be much like a dialysis machine. They draw your blood, which processes and separates the stem cells out of your blood. The blood immediately goes back into your body and the stem cells are separated into another unit.
They then irradiate the stem cells they have drawn to kill any bad cells (so to speak). They freeze these until ready to give back to you.
And to think, I never even knew what a stem cell was until all of this.
Once they are given back to you, they will start repoducing into, reds, whites, platlets, etc. That is their job.

Once all of this is done, you will prepare to be the HIGH DOSE CHEM. Which chemos you are given is up to your onc. I can't recall the actual names of the ones I took. I know there was three of them combined and they referred to them as TNT meaning very strong. Because of this my doctor suggested I stay in the hospital the full length of the course. I was in for about one month. He antipated my having mouths/throat sores and not be able to eat.
I only live about ten miles from the hospital and probably could have gone home but I preferred this chose to be sure.

As it turned out, I never got any mouth sores at all, my throat was sore , much like when you have a strep throat. They did give me morphine for any pain. I did lose my taste buds so I did not have an appetite but they made sure I did not lose any weight (which I did not) they fed me through a line all the time.Everything came back to normal after about 2-3 months later.

I was given the HIGH DOES CHEMO, and then several day's later they gave me back my stem cells. They watched me carefully and I was even allowed close family to come to visit me. They did have to be careful and wash their hands before entering my room. I was in a room that had an air filter which ran constantly to keep room germ free.

When I was sent home, I had to be sure that everything was very clean and they suggested washing down counters and walls with a bleach solution, I have to say that all this scared me a bit prior to chosing to do this, but I did very well after the procedure as far as not getting sick. I did stay at home from work for about 6 months after just to be safe and I tried not to go out in public much for a while.

All and all I have to say it was not as bad as I anticpated. But I was very healthy prior to having it done also. I stayed in remission for another 3 years. And I have had more recurrences since, but I always like to think that maybe, just maybe, it helped in some way. It has been 10 1/2 years now since my original cancer, so who knows.

I believe that Moffitt no longer does the procedure for Breast Cancer because I think they found out that it did not work any better then giving patient adjuvant chemo treatments like we take now.

I did not think that they even offered it any longer. Are you thinking of having it done?

Amy I hope this helps and please let me know what you are planning.

Take care.