My Mom started coughing up blood in January, found that the tumors in her lungs were bleeding. So, they did 4 weeks of radiation treatment to help seal those up. Then, she had the stem cell transplant in April (her sister was a match). So far, she is doing as well as can be expected. She was released from the hospital sooner than we had expected. She is renting an apartment near the hospital because she has to go twice a week for blood work and an IV of whatever is necessary. She is pretty much in isolation and has strict limitations on what she can eat (nothing can be touched by other people). So, it has been emotionally difficult for her. She just recently developed a blood clot where her arterial port was, so they had to remove that and put her on Coumadin. Now, she has to get poked every time they take blood and give her an IV. She hates that because she has horrible veins and it usually takes a couple times before they get it. The doctors say they won't know for 3-4 more months whether the donated stem cells will do their job and start killing the cancer cells. In the meantime, the cancer is spreading. They think it's in her bones now. So, hopefully the cancer won't spread too much while we're waiting for this to work. There is a big possibility that she may need more stem cells transplanted but, she says she won't go through this again. Quality of life is not there. But, she gave it a shot so we'll never have to wonder, "what if".
How are things with you?