Goodbye Keanu my multiple myeloma story
Stem cell transplants were a well–established defense in the fight against multiple myeloma. I read about them with macabre fascination. Taking the blood out of one arm, skimming off the stem cells and re-infusing blood into the other arm sounded like something out of Frankenstein to me. From how I understood it at this point, the stem cell transplant went as follows: I would be given a drug to increase the number of stem cells I produced in my bone marrow until they flowed into my blood. Then my blood would be siphoned off, the stem cells would be removed and my blood would be returned to me, hopefully not dusty after going through all those tubes. My stem cells would then be frozen. I pictured a Westinghouse freezer full of little plastic bags of stem cells, some ice blocks and a mince and cheese pie with the tag “Dr Williams-DON’T TOUCH” on it. A few weeks later I would go into the hospital and through high dose chemotherapy and maybe radiation, my bone marrow would be destroyed. The frozen stem cells would be re-introduced into my body through an IV. They would cleverly find their way to the bone marrow without the benefit of google maps or GPS, attach themselves and start producing healthy blood cells.
Stem cell transplants were a well–established defense in the fight against multiple myeloma. I read about them with macabre fascination. Taking the blood out of one arm, skimming off the stem cells and re-infusing blood into the other arm sounded like something out of Frankenstein to me. From how I understood it at this point, the stem cell transplant went as follows: I would be given a drug to increase the number of stem cells I produced in my bone marrow until they flowed into my blood. Then my blood would be siphoned off, the stem cells would be removed and my blood would be returned to me, hopefully not dusty after going through all those tubes. My stem cells would then be frozen. I pictured a Westinghouse freezer full of little plastic bags of stem cells, some ice blocks and a mince and cheese pie with the tag “Dr Williams-DON’T TOUCH” on it. A few weeks later I would go into the hospital and through high dose chemotherapy and maybe radiation, my bone marrow would be destroyed. The frozen stem cells would be re-introduced into my body through an IV. They would cleverly find their way to the bone marrow without the benefit of google maps or GPS, attach themselves and start producing healthy blood cells.
It
all sounded pretty straightforward and from watching several patients undergo
the procedure on You Tube (is there anything that hasn’t appeared on You Tube?)
they seemed to cope fine. The biggest danger was going to be when they
destroyed the bone marrow. It would kill all of the white blood cells that
normally fought infection. During this low immunity time the patient typically
got mouth sores, was very weak, had no appetite and hopefully didn’t die.
My
brother sent me a positive case study to cheer me up. It was entitled: Complete Remission of
Primary Plasma Cell Leukemia with Bortezomib, Doxorubicin, and Dexamethasone: a
case report. The report was published in February of 2009. The case was about a 54-year-old African American who
was diagnosed with plasma cell leukemia. He was given a “novel
regimen” consisting of bortezomib, doxorubicin, and dexamethasone. Complete
remission was achieved. Although the patient was still undergoing evaluation
for either an autologous or allogeneic bone marrow transplant to consolidate
treatment. I wondered if he was still alive.
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