Last Day of Chemotherapy

I just finished my last bag of pre-transplant chemotherapy! As of this morning the doctors said they are pleased with my numbers, and things are looking good so far. Even though the chemotherapy infusions stopped today, my blood counts will continue to drop (to near zero) over the next couple weeks during which I’ll be feeling really lousy. For now though, I feel surprisingly good (my medications are doing a great job of controlling the pain and nausea) and while my blood counts are high enough I’m even allowed to take occasional little walks around the hospital with a mask.

Medical details: Over the last week I had a tri-lumen PICC line added through my left brachial vein to allow simultaneous infusion of drugs and blood products over the upcoming weeks (I’ll likely be requiring blood and platelet transfusions). While I still have an infusion port on my chest, accessing it is an infection risk so the transplant team has chosen not to use it during my stay. The chemotherapy drugs I’ve been on over the last week are: carmustine, cytarabine, etoposide, and melphalan. Tomorrow is transplant day, where I’ll receive my previously-collected stem cells through my PICC line.