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Recovery timeframe
Following chemo & stem cell transplant how long does it take to recover? Thank u
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Top User
Are you scheduled for one, or have you had one? And, if so, which type? What was your basic overall health before? What sort of support system do you have in place? There are many variables and no definitive answers. There are a wide variety of experiences with transplant. It is very unique to each individual. Here are a couple of bookend experiences.
https://www.cancerforums.net/threads...ransplant-time
https://www.cancerforums.net/threads...ence-(ongoing)
05/08-07/08 Tumor appears behind left ear. Followed by serial medical incompetence on the parts of PCP, veteran oncologist and pathologist (misdiagnosis via non-diagnosis). Providential guidance to proper care at an NCI designated comprehensive cancer center.
07/08 Age 56 DX 1) Peripheral T-Cell Lymphoma-Not Otherwise Specified. Stage IV-B, >50 ("innumerable") tumors, bone marrow involvement.
08/08-12/08 Four cycles CHOEP14 + four cycles GND (Cyclofosfamide, Doxorubicin, Vincristine, Etoposide, Prednisone & Gemcitabine, Navelbine, Doxil)
02/09 2) Relapse.
03/09-06/13 Clinical trial of Romidepsin > long-term study. NED for 64 twenty-eight day cycles, dose tapered.
07/13 3) Relapse, 4) Suspected Mutation.
08/13-02/14 Romidepsin increased, stopped for lack of response. Watch & Wait.
09/14 Relapse/Progression. Visible cervical nodes appear within 4 days of being checked clear.
10/06/14 One cycle Belinostat. Discontinued to enter second clinical trial.
10/25/14 Clinical trial of Alisertib/Failed - Progression.
01/12/15 Belinostat resumed/Failed - Progression. 02/23/15
02/24/15 Pralatrexate/Failed - Progression. 04/17/15
04/15 Genomic profiling reveals mutation into PTCL-NOS + AngioImmunoblastic T-Cell Lymphoma. Stage IV-B a second time. Two dozen tumors + small intestine (Ileum) involvement.
04/22/15 TEC (Bendamustine, Etoposide, Carboplatin). Full response in two cycles. PET/CT both clear. Third cycle followed.
06/15-07/15 Transplant preparation (X-rays, spinal taps, BMB, blood test, MUGA scan, lung function, CMV screening, C-Diff testing etc. etc. etc.) Intrathecal Methotrexate during spinal tap.
BMB reveals 5) 26% blast cells of 20q Deletion Myelodysplastic Syndrome MDS), a bone marrow cancer and precursor to Acute Myeloid Leukemia.
07/11-12/15 Cyclofosfamide + Fludarabine conditioning regimen.
07/16/15 Total Body Irradiation.
07/17/15 Moderate intensity Haploidentical Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant receiving my son's peripheral blood stem cells.
07/21-22/15 Triple dose Cyclofosfamide + Mesna, followed by immunosuppressants Tacrolimus and Mycophenolate Mofetil.
07/23-08/03/15 Marrow producing zero blood cells. Fever. Hospitalized two weeks.
08/04/15 Engraftment occurs, and blood cells are measurable - released from hospital.
08/13/15 Day 26 - Marrow is 100% donor cells. Platelets climbing steadily, red cells follow.
09/21/15 Acute skin Graft versus Host Disease arrives.
DEXA scan reveals Osteoporosis.
09/26/-11/03/15 Prednisone to control skin GvHD.
11/2015 Acute GvHD re-classified to Chronic Graft versus Host Disease.
05/2016 Tacrolimus stopped. Prednisone from 30-90mg daily tried. Sirolimus begun. Narrow-band UV-B therapy started, but discontinued for lack of response. One treatment of P-UVAreceived, but halted due to medication reaction.
09/16/16 Three skin punch biopsies.
11/04/16 GvHD clinical trial of Ofatumumab (Arzerra) + Prednisone + Methylprednisolone begun.
12/16 Type II Diabetes, Hypertension - both treatment-related.
05/17 Extracorporeal Photopheresis (ECP) begun in attempt to control chronic Graft-versus-Host-Disease (cGvHD. 8 year old Power Port removed and replaced with Vortex (Smart) Port for ECP.
05/2017 Chronic anemia (low hematocrit). Chronic kidney disease. Cataracts from radiation and steroids.
06/17 Trying various antibiotics in a search for tolerable prophylaxis.
08/17 Bone marrow biopsy reveals the presence of 2% cells with 20q Deletion Myelodysplastic Syndrome, considered to be Minimum Residual Disease.
12/17 Bone marrow biopsy reveals no abnormalities in the marrow - MDS eradicated. The steroid taper continues.
01/18 Consented for Kadmon clinical trial.
03/18 Began 400mg daily of KD025, a rho-Associated Coiled-coil Kinase 2 Inhibitor (ROCK2).
09/18 Due to refractory GvHD, Extracorporeal Photopheresis halted after 15 months ue to lack of additional benefit.
10/18 I was withdrawn from the Kadmon KD025 clinical trial due to increasing fatigue/lack of benefit.
11/18 Began therapy with Ruxolitinib (Jakafi), a JAK 1&2 inhibitor class drug. Started at half-dose due to concerns with drug interactions.
11/19 MRI of brain reveals apparently benign frontal lobe tumor. Has the appearance of a cerebral cavernoma. Watch & wait on that.
To date: 1 cancer, relapse, second relapse/mutation into 2 cancers, then 3 cancers simultaneously, 20 chemotherapy/GVHD drugs in 11 regimens (4 of them at least twice), 5 salvage regimens, 4 clinical trials, 5 post-transplant immuno-suppressant/modulatory drugs, the equivalent of 1,000 years of background radiation from 40+ CT series scans and about 24 PET scans.
Both lymphoid and myeloid malignancies lend a certain symmetry to the hematological journey.
Believing in the redemptive value of suffering makes all the difference.
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Senior User
 Originally Posted by Lanebenz
Following chemo & stem cell transplant how long does it take to recover? Thank u
There are so many different aspects as to which part of the recovery with either transplant but in general they'll tell you a minimum of six months to one year till you start to feel (somewhat), normal again, if all goes well! As Po said, you'll need to provide specifics for a better understanding of this procedure. Just my 2 pennies!
Dx NSHL StageIIIA
CT {groin 6.8 x 3.3 cm} abdomen nodes, enlarged spleen 2/07/16
Bone marrow, Colonoscopy, Gastroscopy biopsies {-}
Lung & Heart tests Good.
Pet scan Worrisome bone marrow 3/17/16
ABVD 6 cycles started 3/31/16
Interm Pet {+} 5/19/16
Stop ABVD 9/01/16
Pet {+} 10/04/16
Salvage GDP 10/27/16
Misdiagnosed from Hodgkins to {ALCL ALK-} stage 4B 12/01/16
Adcentris 12/05/16 ~ 3/07/17
Lumbar, Tri-fusion line, G-CSF, Collection 3/17/17 ~ 3/18/17
Auto stopped due to infections, sent home to wait 3/27/17
Developed 12 tumors on base of skull, patho = {ALK-} CD30 4/26/17
Restart Adcentris 5/18/17
High dose Chemo/MTX/Total Body Irradiation for three days-twice daily 8/17/17
Donor Allo Transplant 8/23/17
Pet scan NED 12/01/17
“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity."
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I agree with the others - each transplant is a unique experience with its own challenges. I heard of people returning to work part-time after six months. At six months post-transplant I was dealing with a pretty nasty case of graft vs. host disease, and was in no shape to do much. Nine months after the transplant I was feeling well enough to start exercising (very low weights). A year after the transplant I felt well enough to start looking for a job. It's been 17 months since my transplant, and I'm still looking for work. I did go back to graduate school and am finishing up a certificate there. It was good to see that my mind has recovered enough from all that chemo and prednisone effect. So, the recovery is slow even under the best circumstances. Best of luck to you!
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I think there are so many variables that it's impossible to answer. I had an autologous transplant in early October and I was back at work before Christmas. I had a complication of a blood clot in my leg which led to an infection, otherwise it would have been even quicker. It really depends on what you mean by "recover". I didn't feel truly back to normal until I started exercising, which I delayed until spring because of radiation treatment post-transplant. Back to normal for me meant walking 4 miles a day, and I had lost muscle tone and endurance. I also had some nerve pain in my feet. It took a few weeks to build myself back up. I was 42 years old when treated.
Now receiving somebody's else's stem cells is probably an entirely different animal.
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