@A MyMyelomaTeam Member - I just hit Day 70 post transplant. I was extremely active before and am completely back to my workouts and feel great (and have for the last month). This includes cycling, hiking and lap swimming. My appetite was off for the first month and I lost some weight but after about Day 35 things started to return to normal. I walked about a mile on most days in the hospital, laps around the nurses station, and did exercises in the room (brought a resistance band) and that really helped shorten my recovery. There were a few days when my numbers were in the basement that I had to break my walks up. When I got home on Day 16, I slowly but progressively returned to my activities and built up my miles. I know this was critical for my quick recovery. I feel 100% fine with no lingering symptoms (well, except the darn hair loss)! I’m back to work too. Unfortunately, I did not reach remission (yet) but had a Very Good Partial Response. Consulting with doctors now about what to do next. Getting different opinions from the 2 MM specialists that I am working with (sigh). Wishing you all the best! I can tell you that going into it in good shape makes a world of difference.

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A MyMyelo...

I am 10 months post autologous SCT and feel great. The first month after SCT I had trouble with nausea and diarrhea. I had trouble keeping my potassium and magnesium levels high enough. As I was warned, food didn't taste right. Sweets and salt had no appeal for me. Chocolate has always been my weakness but during the first months after SCT I couldn't stand the taste of chocolate or anything high in sugar. Everything tasted too salty.
Slowly, I was able to increase what I ate though most of the time I stuck to cheese and soda crackers. As strange as it sounds, soda crackers with garlic and herb cream cheese was my go-to for most meals that second month. I also took anti-nausea pills at least once a day. By the third month, I was able to eat frozen dinners. The portions were small and I didn't have to think about food. The downside was that they pushed my blood pressure up which lowered my potassium levels.
Eventually, I was able to eat baked potatoes with the skin. Eating baked potatoes regularly brought my potassium levels up and blood pressure back to normal levels.
Foods slowly started tasting normal although chocolate was one of the last to come back and I still avoid salt.

My husband feels much better than at diagnosis. He has a good quality of life. He has some side effects on revlimid maintenance but manageable. His sct was just over six years ago. He retired two years ago at the age of 66. All the best, Dolores

Not sure I can add much except to say that I bounced back quickly from the 14 day stay. I was 72 and in decent shape so I experienced very little restrictions.

It took a while for the red blood count and hemoglobin to resume normal levels so you may experience that out of breath feeling. My ASCT was June 2023.

Your immune system is compromised so particular care is needed when making human contact.

After the 100 day recovery period I was just about back to normal. Today some 13 months since the transplant I feel great and remain in remission.

Somewhat helpful. I found it to be not much more than a recitation of the side effects experienced by the MM population during their induction phase of treatment. There are good reasons for this knock-on effect,which the AI answer doesn’t acknowledge.